Lucky In Cards, Unlucky In Love
by Dozen and One Stars
Summary: It's the rapid fire, bullet proof broomsticks, curses, and the unspoken agreements that define Hiruma and Mamori's odd relationship at their best, worst and the area inbetween. After all it's just another day in paradise. 100 themes challenge. Oneshots.
1. Bundle of Joy

Chapter One: Bundle of Joy

Disclaimer: I do not own Eyeshield 21.

School Project Arc: 1/3

Song Playing: Baby Doll

Theme 76: Baby

"Come on, Hiruma-kun. Why don't you hold her for a while?" Mamori suggested from her standing position.

Hiruma sneered at the bundle in her arms with disgust etched into every pore. "I ain't holding that damn thing."

"She's not a thing. She's a girl. Besides don't you want to hold your daughter?" The manager asked with a smile on her face and an amused twinkle in her eye. The trio started walking down to the field. "After all, she's as much mine as she is yours."

"Like hell she is!"

Mamori shook her head. "Now, how could you say such cruel things? That's no way to talk in front of her. Why don't you pick out the name? Maybe that'll help you become more attached."

"How about I sit it up on the pole in the end zone and use it as target practice?"

"Don't mind daddy." She adjusted her hold. "He's always like that. Too much football on the brain."

"Don't call me that! I ain't that thing's anything." Hiruma stormed on and Mamori picked up her pace.

The manager's grin got wider as their conversation continued. Similarly the quarterback's frown got deeper. "You really shouldn't say such things and if you're trying to lose me you're going to have to walk a whole lot faster than that."

"Dammit! How'd I ever get stuck with a crazy partner like you?"

Mamori smiled as she glanced down at the plastic baby they had received in class. For some reason or another Hiruma seemed particularly irked about this project and she was having quite the time teasing him about it. She never realized how much fun it was to rifle the infamous quarterback's feathers. "Look Hiruma, I think she has your eyes."

"Fucking manager!"


	2. Child Rearing

Chapter Two: Child Rearing

Disclaimer: I do not own Eyeshield 21.

School Project Arc: 2/3

Song Playing: Revenge Of A Middle Aged Woman

Theme 65: Scream

"I'm not feeding the damn thing!" Hiruma glared at the plastic doll and the girl holding it.

Mamori held out the still screaming child. "Oh yes you are!"

"Like hell I am! You love the stupid thing so much then you do it." He leaned down a little so he could stare her down properly.

She shifted their project so she was supporting her with one hand while the other poked in the chest. "I am _not_ doing this on my own. _We_ are going to pass and _you_ are going to help. This is an equal partnership and I will not-"

"Um, guys?" Sena nervously interrupted the two. "Could you argue later?"

"Stay out of this, fucking pipsqueak!"

"Don't talk to Sena like that!"

Said boy retreated back to where the other players were safely residing a few feet away.

"Just feed the damn thing so we can get going!" Hiruma glanced aver at the clock. "Half time's almost over and I'm not going to waste precious strategy time just because you refuse to do your job."

"Excuse me?" Mamori's anger spiked as she pushed the baby into his arms. "You're not going anywhere until you start pitching in. I am not doing this alone and for your information you're the one whose been neglecting their responsibilities."

With that she stormed off, leaving the feared Deimon devilbat's quarterback holding a plastic baby in the middle of a crowded stadium.

You would have thought that such a scene would riot laughter, jeers, and jokes from everyone present. The fact was that the stadium had never been so quiet. There was some deep primal instinct for survival keeping them from taunting. One brave soul took a picture for the school's paper and the next day a dummy of him was burning in effigy in the end zone along with the roll of film.

Needless to say no one ever spoke of the incident.

"Fucking brats! What are you standing around for? The game ain't over yet! Get out there!"

The rest of the team quickly scattered onto the field.


	3. The Logical Explanation

Chapter Three: The Logical Explanation

Disclaimer: I do not own Eyeshield 21.

School Project Arc: 3/3

Song Playing: It's My Life

Theme 66: Fail

"Never in my thirteen years of teaching have I ever seen such horror befall upon the baby project." Mr. Hayashi held up what was left of the plastic baby with amused curiosity in his eyes. "As far as I can tell it's been dropped in the mud, caught fire at least once, and -if I'm not mistaken- has been used as a target practice."

Mamori, who had been fiddling with her skirt and blushing- in either shame or embarrassment- gave a side glare to the quarterback. Hiruma was as calm as ever with his feet propped up on the teacher's desk while he blew a bubble. Mr. Hayashi shook his head and started writing something down in his grade book. "While I'm hoping that here is a perfectly... logical explanation I have no choice but to fail you both."

The manager looked like she was about to argue for a moment but she kept silent and simply nodded. The quarterback didn't have much of a reaction.

"You two are dismissed."

As they left his classroom Mr. Hayashi couldn't help but overhear part of their conversation.

"I can't believe you!" There was a slight shrillness to her voice. "I leave you alone with her for five minuets to use the bathroom and you cost us our grade! How could you cause so much harm in such a short period of time?"

"Misguided rocket launcher."

There was a sound that indicated that she had just repressed a scream. "And the bullet marks?"

"The fucking thing was staring at me."


	4. At First Sight

Chapter Four: At First Sight

Disclaimer: I do not own Eyeshield 21.

Song Playing: Have You Ever Been In Love

Theme 20: Love

The clubhouse was the quietist it had ever been. The only sound was the rhythmic typing of laptop keys as Hiruma worked. Across from him sat the ever dutiful manager, for once not doing anything at all. Just... sitting and staring off into space.

"Hiruma?"

He made a non-committal noise that indicated that he had heard her.

"Do you believe in love at first sight?"

There was a brief almost nonexistent pause in his typing, if she didn't know any better she would swear it hadn't happened at all. "Why? Don't tell me you've gone all wide eyed and girly on me for some school yard idiot."

"No." He was a bit surprised when there was no bite in her tone, no sign of the usual irritation. "I was just wondering. That's all."

The clubhouse was silent once again.

"So do you?"

His reply was short quick and to the point. "Hell no."

"Why not?" Mamori turned her body so she could look at him while they talked.

"That love-at-first-sight crap is just an over marketed love struck teenage girl fantasy." His eyes flickered over whatever he was typing out. "Love, if there is such a damn thing, won't happen just by looking at the person. If anyone feels anything the first time meeting 'the one' it's nothing but suppressed smoldering lust. It's a pure physical attraction that shoots through straight from the brain to groin."

She stared at him for a moment before returning to her earlier activity of staring at the wall.

"Do you?"

She gave him a shrug. "I don't know. I mean the thought of walking into a room and locking eyes with someone and knowing instantly that that's the one. That's the person I'm spending the rest of my life with seems so far fetched. And yet- yet there's something about it. Something about the whole idea of knowing, of feeling that spark it just calls to me." She glanced up at him. "Though I suppose it's rather silly, right?"

He locked eyes with her and for one brief fleeting moment he felt something tighten in his chest. "Not entirely."

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	5. Should Have Known

Chapter Five: Should Have Known

Disclaimer: I do not own Eyeshield 21.

Song Playing: Kryptonite

Theme 92: Trap

"Damn fucking brats! It'll be the marathon from hell when I get my hands on them!" A booming but familiar demonic voice echoed though out the deserted football field. Well, mostly deserted anyway.

"Hiruma-kun?" Mamori's tone could only be described as a cross between confusion, amusement, and complete disbelief. "Is that you?"

A stream of swears confirmed her earlier guess.

"What are you-"

His voice clearly stated he didn't want to talk about it. "Not another damn word."

"Are you okay? You're not hurt are you?" She asked him.

He scoffed. "Fine. I'm fucking peachy."

"All right, just stay there and I'll be back with a ladder." With that she turned and ran back to the clubhouse.

As she took off she could hear the quarterback mumbling to himself. "Where the hell am I going to go? It's not like I can fucking just get up and walk away... should have known not to trust those damn brats with filling up the fucking mine holes... damn idiots think that putting a tarp over it helps... idiots. I'm working with god damn fucking idiots."

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	6. Criminal Masterminds

Chapter Six: Criminal Masterminds

Disclaimer: I do not own Eyeshield 21

Song Playing: Modern Day Bonnie & Clyde.

Theme 55: Crime

"A+. Creative, unique and very informative. Glad to see the two of you working together and hope you would reconsider the offer I made about the school festival." Mamori read out loud what their cultural teacher had written on their report on American crime in the 1920's. It had consisted of a written report, and an oral presentation plus a visual aide. "We'll have to thank Suzuna for getting the costumes for us the next time we see her."

The two walked down the hallway, not noticing the strange looks they were getting from their fellow classmates.

"You clean up pretty well, Hiruma-kun." She commented as she adjusted the big boa around her neck.

He tugged his hat down with one hand as shifted the gun that was slung over his shoulder with the other. "You don't look half bad yourself, fucking manager."

Mamori attired in a black and white striped short dress, with feathers in her hair and a boa resting around her shoulders sauntered down the steps with a smile on her face. Strutting along right beside her was Hiruma decked out in a white suit, a red tie around his neck with a white hat with a red strip running around it perched on top of his head. When they walked into the clubhouse later like that, standing side by side, Suzuna had smirked and called them a regular modern day Bonnie and Clyde.

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	7. Sexual Tension

Chapter Seven: Sexual Tension

Disclaimer: I do not own Eyeshield 21.

Song Playing: Pour Some Sugar On Me

Theme 84: Sex

"All I'm saying is that a dating relationship isn't all about sex. There are many, more important factors that contribute." Mamori said as she rewrote the notes she had taken at the last game they had played.

Hiruma simply scoffed. "Who the hell told you that crap? It's all about sex. Either the actual act or trying to get some. There ain't a guy out there who asked a girl out with the intention of getting to explore her innermost thoughts and feeling. There doing it with the intention of getting to explore something much more satisfying and pleasant than some in-depth conversation."

The manger's face turned a slight shade of red. "Not all boys are trying to get into a girl's pants, Hiruma-kun."

"Bull." He typed away at his laptop. "Every guy is trying to get there. Don't fool yourself into thinking otherwise. Even that fucking pipsqueak is trying to hit a homerun with that loud mouthed cheerleading girlfriend of his."

"Hiruma!" Mamori shouted; her face becoming a bright red.

He blew a bubble. "It's true."

She attempted to turn back to their conversation, desperately wishing to get off the subject of her best fried, who was _like a brother_ to her doing... that with someone. Especially someone she was good friends with and saw on a daily basis. "I didn't say that sex didn't play a vital factor in a relationship with tension and just sensuality in general but it shouldn't be the sole focus of going out with someone."

"You can argue against it until your blue in the face but it won't change the fact that a guy goes into a relationship wanting sex, whether he realizes it or not." Hiruma re-read what he had just written.

Mamori gave him a curious smile. "Does that include you?"

"Don't you have work or something to do, fucking manager?"

She just smiled and went back to her notes.

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	8. Fidget

Chapter Eight: Fidget

Disclaimer: I do not own Eyshield 21. Slight Spoiler.

Song Playing: She Don't Know She's Beautiful

Theme 96: Writer's Choice

Ever since Mamori had gotten her hair cut off she had gotten quite a few compliments on it. Her friends and raved saying it made her look older, more mature. Her mother had said it framed her face nicely. Still, despite all their encouraging words, she couldn't help but feel a little self-conscience.

It was annoying.

Every time he glanced over at her she was pushing a strand behind her ear or blowing it out of her face or, to his great annoyance, toying with the shortened strands. It was distracting as hell. Because the movement of her hair drew his attention to her hand which lead him to the neck that was connected to her shoulders and after that his mind went places that would have him being the target of the wrong end of a mop if she could peek into his thoughts.

He had overheard her and that loud mouthed cheerleader talking about how she still wasn't used to it and how self-conscience she was about it. The noisy one had attempted to reassure her that it looked great and had jokingly teased her that maybe the real reason she was upset was that a certain someone hadn't noticed. The manager turned a light shade of red before telling the younger girl to work on her homework.

He walked away, the two never even knowing he was there.

"Fucking manager!"

Mamori turned her head to find Hiruma standing behind her. "Yes?"

"It ain't half bad."

She didn't toy with her hair after that.

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	9. Lover's Quarrel

Chapter Nine: Lover's Quarrel

Disclaimer: I do not own Eyeshield 21.

Song Playing: The Race Is On

Theme 40: Argue

Their fights were legendary around the school and all businesses in a three block radius of the clubhouse- that's how far their voices traveled when in top form. At first they were notorious. Everyone ducked and covered if there was even the faintest sound that resembled a bullet hitting a mop- surprisingly many things sounded like that when you were listening for it. Students began bringing earplugs to school and most buildings surrounding the school closed shop for a few hours during practice. No point in staying open when no one would come due to the noise.

A few weeks in, attitudes began to change. The fights were still loud but not even close to their former hostility and far less frequent. Students began daring to be with in a hundred yard radius of the football field while the two exchanged verbal blows- though they always made sure to be with in diving distance of shelter. Before too long it became routine; an insult here, a gunshot there, a well placed cleaning utensil and they were done.

Break came and went, bringing with it a turning point. Some new girl had declared herself the head cheerleader of the football team and made the fights less like a war zone and more like game. She became the referee, most amused spectator and bookie all in one. She even gave out odds. Bets were made on who would win, what they were fighting over, and how long the particular fight would last.

People even began looking forward to them. You could never tell where the argument would lead.

"Damn manager!"

"Insufferable tyrant!"

Ah, the sweet sound of enraged normalcy.

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	10. Time Is Relative

Chapter Ten: Time Is Relative

Disclaimer: I do not own Eyeshield 21.

Song Playing: The Bride

Theme 44: Stuck

Mamori let out a sigh as she took a seat on the ground and leaned herself against the wall. She glanced at the locked door that Hiruma was yelling obscenities at and decided to make herself comfortable. It looked like she was going to be here a while.

It seemed that Suzuna had come up with the brilliant idea that the reason that her and Hiruma bickered so much was because they had too much 'sexual tension' built up with no way out. Her solution? Lock them in a remote closet and let nature take it's course. The manager shook her head. She felt sorry for the poor boys she had convinced to help her with this crazy scheme of her's, who knew what Hiruma was planning on doing to them once they got out.

She glanced at her watch and restrained from letting out another sigh. They'd only been in there for five minuets and she was getting annoyed.

As the manager she had many more important things to do than be locked in a closet with a demonic quarterback. She could be doing her homework, editing the tapes from the last game, cleaning the clubhouse, patching up the uniforms or the many other things on her extremely long to do list. Instead she was stuck in a small, cramped, dark room with a man that tended to remind her of the monsters that mother's insist aren't hidden under the bed. She glanced back at her watch.

Seven minutes.

She stared up at the ceiling and couldn't help but be reminded of what a teacher of her's had once said during a discussion. She couldn't remember it word for word but it went something like 'an hour sitting with a beautiful woman seems like a second but a second sitting on a hot stove seems like an hour.'

Or something like that anyway.

Point was why couldn't time slow down like this when she needed it to? Like in the middle of a game or test? When she needed to finish up something important there never seemed to be enough time. Now that she was in a closet with no way out time couldn't have gone slower if it had crawled.

Then she looked up, noticing for the first time that the room was silent. Hiruma had his back toward her and seemed to be fiddling with something.

"Hiruma?"

He put whatever he was holding down. "Fire in the hole!"

"What?!"

Mamori suddenly found herself completely covered by his sturdy frame and her ears momentarily deafened by the loud explosion behind him. Blinking in shock she found herself staring at a hole in the wall where the door used to be.

Well, she supposed that was one way to open a door.

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	11. Tick Tick Boom

Chapter Eleven: Tick Tick Boom

Disclaimer: I do not own Eyeshield 21

Song Playing: Mission Temple Fireworks Stand

Theme 90: Bomb

Hiruma was like a bomb.

Tick.

She came to that conclusion one day during practice. She still wasn't sure what inspired this conclusion but the more she though about it the more it fit.

Tick.

She supposed that if she told people about her little thought they would disagree. They'd say he's too loud and out there to be compared to something as simple and common as a bomb. He's more like a sting of firecrackers going off one after another. Or a machine gun perched on top a grassy hill, ready to snuff out anything that moved. But they didn't fit. Firecrackers were too childish and short lived to describe him. The machine gun was way too cowardly.

Tick.

No. A bomb was a perfect description.

Tick.

It was a classic. Yet could be made out of so many things, adapted depending on the tools around. It could be an ingenious form of mechanics or as simple as something you cook up at home. But what sealed the deal was the anticipation.

Tick.

There was always that subtle and sometimes not so subtle feeling that something big was about to happen. That he was on a short fuse and he could lose it at any minute. Not in the normal rain of bullets way either. Oh, no something much bigger than that. When he exploded it was going to be huge. In a good or bad way she still wasn't sure but she felt it was coming. She had seen it some out in small isolated incidences.

Tick.

Each one went either way but both reminded her of how lucky they were to have the quarterback on their side and not on the opposing teams.

Tick.

Then it happened. The flame reached the end of its fuse.

Tick.

The only warning she got was a gruff use of her nickname, fucking manager, before she found herself completely engulfed by him. His arms wrapping around her form, pressing her to him in a tight embrace. One hand threading its fingers way through her short stands of hair. His lips crashing onto her own.

Boom.

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	12. Violence In The Blood

Chapter Twelve: Violence In The Blood

Disclaimer: I do not own Eyeshield 21.

Song Playing: Just For

Theme 47: Kill

There was not doubt in anyone's mind that Hiruma was a violent boy. No one could honestly say that he wasn't considering the amount of firearms that he carried on his person, not to mention the weaponry hidden underground not far from the club house. His manic grin. His array of artillery. His wicked cackle. Everything about him screamed hostile takeover and pain on whoever stood up to him.

Still for all his shot bullets and outspoken threats there was never a record of him every truly harming anyone- physically anyway. There were plenty of cases of mental anguish and emotional trauma but not a single person could ever say that they were ever physically injured by the demon. There were never bruises or scraps. And if there were they were not caused- directly or indirectly- by the quarterback.

It was surprising really, what with his bad temper and all.

Though he never aimed to hurt. If he wanted to cause injury it was practically guaranteed that it would happen. He didn't aim to maim. He aimed to win. He aimed to ground his opponent into the ground no matter to odds. He came to kill. That's how he lived his life- which was football at this point. So he surprised even himself when he felt a wave of rage sweep over him when he spotted a bruise on his manager's arm, a bruise that consisted of five fingers and a palm.

He still remembered glaring into the crowd, his eyes immediately falling on a tall teenager with dread locks and cold aggressive eyes. The smirk the bastard had given him had made his blood boil in a way he didn't know existed. It was the only time that he could ever recall wanting to kill someone.

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	13. Silent Danger

Chapter Thirteen: Silent Danger

Disclaimer: I do not own Eyeshield 21.

Song Playing: Witchy Woman

Theme : Danger

There were a few things that everyone at Deimon would state for a fact about various members of the football team. For example Ishimaru would be most likely to be forgotten that he was even on the team. That the mysterious eyeshield was the fastest person to ever attend their school. Kuirta was the nicest of anyone and that Monta was probably going to be mistaken for an escaped monkey, captured, and taken to the zoo at least one time in his life.

But the most obvious statement would have to be that the quarterback was the devil himself and the most dangerous, influential person currently enrolled. In fact, the only person who didn't agree with it was the devil himself. He would have to say that the only person who surpassed him in his fields of power, leadership, and authority was girl he deemed fucking manager.

This would shock most people. Anezaki? Dangerous? Powerful? How on earth did you come up with that? In anything she was the sweetest, kindest, docile person you could ever hope to have the pleasure of knowing.

But no one knew her the way the quarterback did. She was quick on her feet- her ability to adapt rivaled his own. She was kind but that gave her an edge, people tended to do what she wanted because she was nice. She demanded respect and got it. This was proven with the fact that she still remained one of the few people that he hadn't threatened with the handbook without already having another plan to get her. She had quite the commanding air about her, something that made you want to please her, something that made you feel guilt for any chance of disappointment.

She was also as scary as hell when she wanted to be, though he'd never admit it.

Her danger, her influence, her power was quiet but it was spread throughout the entire school and then some. It went completely unnoticed most of the time. Most people never paid it much mind. After all it was Anezaki. She kept things in order. It was what she did, no questions asked. That was the trait that had caused him to recruit her on the spot for the management position on the team. Dominance required influential and prominent allies.

It was because of this silent unseen authority that Hiruma would swear on a stack of Football Monthly's that his fucking manager was the most dangerous powerful person to grace the campus of Deimon High School, even if she didn't know it herself.

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	14. Zoom In, Focus Out

Chapter Fourteen: Zoom In, Focus Out

Disclaimer: I do not own Eyeshield 21.

Song Playing: Big Time

Theme 68: Smile

Suzuna never thought all that much about photography. Click a button, a flash of bright light, and you got a picture. To her cameras where associated with little kid's birthday parties and special occasions but that thought process changed the day her parents bought her a digital camera for her birthday.

It had only been a few months since her return home from America when she was presented with the gift. At first she wasn't thrilled. In fact she was down right disappointed as she had been hoping for a new pair of skates. But that was only until she discovered the joy of capturing people unaware on film. It started small at first. A head shot here, a part of someone's arm there before she got used to it. Once she figured out what she was doing there was no stopping her.

Suddenly she was taking pictures of everyone and everything. She took pictures of practices, games, class, downtime, people working and when she discovered that you could get certain affects by pressing certain buttons it was like hell had broken loose and manifested itself as an over energetic teenage girl. She learned very quickly and her shots were becoming better and better.

She was filling scrapbooks full of photos of everyone she knew and a few she didn't. She's captured many interesting moments. Like a shot of Monta mid-summersault after catching a pass. One comical one of Kuirta crushing the three hah brothers and Daikichi to stop them from fight. A serious one of Hiruma typing away at his laptop. There was one with Musashi scratching Cerberus on the head and another with Mamori and Yukimitsu obsessing over a play book. She also had a lot of her brother, whether she had originally intended him to be in the shot or not. Then one night when she was busy sorting through all the shots she had taken and was trying to figure out which ones to keep and which ones to toss she came upon a very strange discovery.

She didn't have a single shot of Hiruma smiling.

And she wasn't talking about one of his manic grins or freaky false happy smile. Those didn't count. She was talking about one of those genuine million dollar smiles that people have when they're truly happy or content. From that moment onward she made it her mission to capture that smile.

If the team thought she was bad before it was nothing compared to what she became. Now it was nothing but flashing lights and her yelling at Hiruma to give her a real smile. Which, of course, annoyed the hell out of him. That in turn made him release his frustration out on the rest of the team. Who then ended up collapsed on the lawn waiting for Mamori to basically drag them into the clubhouse where pitchers of cool water awaited their arrival.

This went on for weeks before Sena had managed to convince the cheerleader to lay off. For the team's well-being. She had reluctantly agreed to stop taking photos of the quarterback and went back to taking random shots of everyone. It was just a few days after she stopped trying to capture his smile that she found herself once again sifting through some old photos.

She was just about to turn in for the night when one particular photo caught her attention. Snatching it up she looked at it closely. There in all its black and white glory was the devil himself wearing a completely content little grin, one that had probably been on his face just long enough for her to capture. It must have been from one of her many little escapades when she simply pointed and shot. Her eyes then followed to where she was looking and her eyes widened in shock. He was staring straight at Mamori, who was completely focused on writing something down and didn't even notice the quarterback.

Suzuna held the once in a lifetime shot up to the light, unable to keep the smug grin of satisfaction from her lips. "Got ya."

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	15. A Gift Of Sorts

Chapter Fifteen: A Gift Of Sorts

Disclaimer: I do not own Eyeshield 21.

Song Playing: Witch Doctor

Theme 21: New

The first thing Mamori noticed upon her arrival at the clubhouse was that it was-once- again under construction. The first wave of feeling that came over her was a sense of pride for their victory. Her first thought was that she had to find a new place to work. The first question that popped into her head was, 'What else could we possibly add on?'

At this point she didn't think that there was anything else they could possibly need. They had already gained a locker room, meeting room, underground arsenal, a house for Cerberus, and a few other miscellaneous additions. Weaving her way through the small sea of construction workers and football players she kept an eye out for Hiruma, or Musashi- whoever she happened to spot first.

It just so happened that the two where together.

Musashi was scratching the back of his head thoughtfully as Hiruma pointed at the blueprint- giving his specific orders. The two didn't even notice her arrival until her started talking to them. "What are you building this time? An equipment room?"

They looked up at her for a moment before returning to the paper before them. The quarterback popped his gum. "No, an office."

"Office?" The manager looked over at the frame work that was being put up. "You're building an office? Why?"

"For you, fucking manager." He didn't even bother looking up that time.

Mamori was honestly shocked by his blatant answer. There was a slight color to her cheeks. "For me? Why Hiruma-kun that's rather-"

"Can't afford to have you lose our strategies or have a mental breakdown because you can't have an quiet place to think this close to our goal." He rolled up the plans and tucked them under his arm. "It should be done in a week. Start packing up everything and get ready to move. I also need the footage from last week's game by player position before tomorrow."

She let out a sigh. "-kind of you."


	16. Unconsciously Sought

Chapter Sixteen: Unconsciously Sought

Disclaimer: I do not own Eyeshield 21.

Song Playing: 100 Years

Theme 39: Seek

"I'm still not seeing it." Jumonji commented as he flipped through the photo album she had put together.

Suzuna let out a frustrated sigh. They were the only two in the clubhouse at the moment and she was attempting to explain her theory to him, one that she had so far kept solely to herself. "It's not that hard. We have all been sub-conscientiously seeking a standard normal family structure that we could not find at home and have therefore developed it in the other members of the team."

"... what?"

"We've found a family in the team!" She yelled out as she collapsed in a chair.

The line backer turned the page. "So who's what?"

"Taki's the obnoxious uncle that always shows up at holidays- like the black sheep of the family. You, Togano, Kuroki, Daikichi, Kurita, and Yukimitsu are all the uncles that are kind of weird but are fun to be around. Sena and Monta are the cousins. And Musashi's the wise grandfather watching over everyone." Suzuna explained enthusiastically, making wild hand gestures as she spoke.

"Makes sense, I guess." Jumonji stated as she put down the book as leaned back in his chair. "So who are the parents?"

The cheerleader let loose a mischievous grin and it was only then that he heard the faint sounds of arguing.

"You can't threaten the teachers into changing their grades! That's cheating!" Mamori's harsh voice could be heard clearly through the door.

Hiruma's voice was much calmer but still audible. "It's not cheating. It's successful persuasion."

Suzuna gave him a look and Jumonji nodded knowingly as he handed her the album back. "Should have known."

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	17. Mad Genius

Chapter Seventeen: Mad Genius

Disclaimer: I do not own Eyeshield 21.

Song Playing: High School Never Ends

Theme 87: Genius

Mamori tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear as she answered the questions given to her by the reporter before her. She still wasn't entirely clear on how she ended up being volunteered to do an interview with one of the many journalists from Football Monthly but here she was, chatting away with an enthusiastic young woman. "So, the Devilbats have had an unexpected rise in the rankings this past season. Most of our readers comment on how it's due to the addition of the mysterious player, Eyeshield 21. Would you agree with their opinion?"

"While Eyeshield is an important factor to our success," The manager leaned forward slightly. "It's a team effort. We wouldn't be where we are with out the skill and support of the rest of our players."

"Players like Youichi Hiruma?" The woman questioned.

A brief look of confusion crossed the teenage girl's face before it fell away and a smile replaced it.

"Among others."

"Speaking of the infamous quarterback," The reporter pushed. "What of the rumors that he's a slave driving tyrant that pushes his team mates to the point of death through his dangerous training methods?"

"He's a determined leader that brings the others beyond their physical expectations with unusual but successful techniques, if that's what you mean." Mamori didn't miss a beat in correcting the older female.

But that didn't deter her in the least bit. "It has been said that he recruits all his players through bribes and threats with the information located in a little black book that is always on his person. Is Deimon so weak that they have to resort to this sort of veiled violence in order to compete? What does that say about the team's integrity? That they're willing to turn a blind eye to this sort of behavior?"

"Each of our members became apart of this team through different circumstances but I can assure you that they are all here of their own accord." The auburn haired girl's tone was a bit harsher than it was earlier. "As to our integrity and weakness... all I can say is that we are a team that is strong enough to compete and we have our morals. Also that anyone who even thinks that we are any of the things you stated should be focusing more on their abilities instead of concerning themselves with ours."

"What of the concern with the leader of the Devilbats being an overly obsessive, mad dictator who's overlooking the needs of his players in order to reach his goal?" The woman probed.

Mamori pushed back her chair and stood up. "He is a devoted captain who looks out for his team who are all working hard to _our_ goal. If there's nothing else I have to get back to practice so if you'll excuse me-"

"One final question!" The manager turned to look back from her position in the doorway. "What do you have to say about the accusation that he's an unstable figure who tries unexpected and risky plays in order to get ahead of the competition?"

At this she couldn't help but smile. "We prefer the term genius."

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	18. Nonexistent Fear

Chapter Eighteen: Nonexistent Fear

Disclaimer: I do not own Eyeshield 21. Also there is a slight spoiler so be warned.

Song Playing: Cell Block Tango

Theme 82: Afraid

"I heard that his whole appearance is just one big intimidation tactic." Ako commented as she paid for her drink and followed her two friends to an empty table.

"It works!" Sara exclaimed, pulling out a chair and sitting down. She leaned forward while she talked. "He looks like some sort of American psycho path! What kind of person dyes their hair such a bright shade of blonde and pierces so many things? And all for the sake of intimidation? He's dangerous and scary!"

"Scary? He's down right terrifying! Wouldn't you agree, Mamori?" Ako turned her attention the only and only football manager.

Said teenager looked up from her earlier activity of stirring sugar into her styrofoam cup. "No. Not really. I mean I guess he's a little unnerving when you first meet him but after that he's not all that frightening."

Her two friends went bug eyed.

"What?!" Sara yelled, slamming her fist down on the poor table top.

Her friend seemed to agree with her. "How could you possibly not be?!"

"Well," Mamori lifted the coffee cup up and took a sip. "I find it hard to fear someone once you've seen them in a full on rabbit suit."

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	19. The Enemy

Chapter Nineteen: The Enemy

Disclaimer: I do not own Eyeshield 21.

Song Playing: 1985

Theme 85: Hate

Hiruma had made quite a few enemies in his relatively short life span. It really wasn't all that surprising. Really it's hard not to make enemies when you threatened people with their innermost private secrets and prized possessions. To go along with the sea of enemies there was a lot of hate, which was pretty much just stating the obvious.

He had acquired them through many different means. Some were envious of his abilities- both physical and mental. That had been the case with the leader of the Zokugaku team. He was hated for the fact that is team had the will to win, the determination not to give up, and the mere fact that they gave it their all and followed him without question. It was envy, pure and simple that made the chameleon like teen hate him.

There was allow a lot of people who didn't hate him exactly, it was more a mix of fear and resentment. As for his enemies... well it would probably be a shorter list if he simply counted up his allies, which was pretty much those on the team. His enemies reached out to everyone else varying in degrees.

The school was a big enemy. The people in it were vast and numerous. He knew that the people he blackmailed there were no friends and if it wasn't for the fact that he was so powerful; they would turn on him in an instant.

Every other school with a football team and anyone associated with them were defiantly on the list. On his high list of enemies and hated list: standing proudly at number two was the Shinryuji Naga's ultimate player, Agon Kongo. He was violent, short tempered, and cruel. He had insulted him and was far too friendly with his damn manager. But even after all that he still wasn't the demonic quarterback's number one hated enemy and concern.

No, his number one was something that had haunted him and his football career since the start of middle school. It was something that was coming all too fast. It was something that had started to overwhelm him since his second year and was sure to have overpowered him if that damn girl hadn't come along and gotten recruited as a manager. It was something that he couldn't fight. No matter what he did it wasn't about to slow down but between him and his manager he was able to control it and use it to their advantage.

Time was now the enemy.

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	20. Of Gods And Devilbats

Chapter Twenty: Of Gods And Devilbats

Disclaimer: I do not own Eyeshield 21.

Song Playing: Don't Take Your Guns To Town

Theme 46: Pray

The school grounds of Deimon High School were deserted and pitch black. The last bell having already rung, even practice had long since passed. The clock was ticking just shy of midnight. Still in the lower corner of the school sat a small building that was lit and occupied. Even at this late hour of the night.

There sat the quarterback and the manager tying up all the loose ends before their big game against the Shinryuji Nagas, which was just days away at this point.

"Well that's everything." The reliable manager of the football team stretched out her back before she leaned foreword on the table, cradling her head in her arms she closed her eyes and let out a small yawn. "There's nothing else we can do to prepare except to pray."

"No."

Mamori glanced up from where her head was resting on her forearms. Her eyes attempting to blink away the sleepiness that was threatening to take over. She was too tired to try and figure out his underlying meanings tonight. "What?"

"Devilbats don't pray for anything from the gods." Hiruma stated seriously as he leaned back in his chair to stare at the ceiling. His hands intertwined and his gun lying forgotten on the floor. His eyes shifted so they were looking right at his manager. "Especially for help."

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	21. Investigations & Interrogations

Chapter Twenty One: Investigations & Interrogations

Disclaimer: I do not own Eyeshield 21.

Song Playing: Pretty Girl

Theme 14: Chair

Mamori Anezaki sat in a small simple looking room. The only furniture present was the slightly uncomfortable chair she was currently sitting in and the table in front of her. She glanced at her watch and let out a small sigh, by the way things were going she was going to be late for practice. Taking in her surroundings she couldn't help but wonder what the police could possibly need her for.

That's right. The straight A, responsible, trustworthy manager of the Deimon football team was currently spending time that should have been dedicated to preparing for practice in an interrogation room at the police station. She was just about to pull out her cell phone so she could call Hiruma to warn him that she was going to be late when the door opened and in walked in the two police officers that had picked her up shortly after school had let out. The older looking cop gave her a smile. "Miss Anezaki, allow me to make a proper introduction. I'm Detective Yamamoto and this is my partner Detective Fujiwara."

His younger partner nodded from his position against the now closed door.

She shook the man's hand. "It's nice to meet you. What is it you want?"

"Straight to the point I see." The older man chuckled. "Well, we are currently in the middle of an investigation and are under the impression that you are acquainted with a Youichi Hiruma, who attends your school."

"I help manage the football team with him." The manager offered.

"We have reason to believe that he's involved heavily in an underground drug ring and would be grateful for any information you have."

The mature teenager studied him closely for a minute, as if trying to figure out if the man was serious or not, then broke out in a small fit of laughter. Drugs? They thought he was involved in drugs? Black mail? Defiantly. Harassment? Maybe. Illegal smuggling of firearms? Without a doubt. But drugs? Now that was just ridiculous. After a few minutes she had managed to calm down enough to answer the request. "I'm sorry but I think you have the wrong guy. Hiruma-kun is not involved in drugs, underground or other."

"Of course you'd defend him." The younger detective reasoned as he placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "You're biased by your friendship with this young man. But you have to understand that this is a police examination and hindering any evidence you may have is considered a crime."

Mamori looked up at the hovering adult. "No, Mr. Fujiwara. I'm defending Hiruma because he's not involved in this mess." Before either detective had a chance to respond the manager pushed her chair back and stood up, hefting her backpack over one shoulder. "I'm sorry I can't help you with you're case but I really have to get going. I'm late for practice and-" She paused for a moment as the familiar sounds of a certain quarterback's curses and footfall where heard. "My ride just arrived."

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	22. The Three O' Clock

Chapter Twenty Two: The Three O' Clock

Disclaimer: I do not own Eyeshield 21.

Song Playing: Idaho

Theme 91: Hospital

Hatsumi Uzumaki had just started working at they community hospital as a nurse just a few months ago and so far things seemed to be working out pretty well for her in her own personal opinion. Today was turning out to be an exceptionally good day. It was a slow day which allowed her to catch up on some sorting that she had been meaning to do, she had gotten the last cup of relatively lukewarm coffee in the break room, and she had a date with a cute intern that night. At this point nothing could bring her down. Life was looking good.

"I don't need a fucking doctor, I need to whip those brats into shape so we can win the God-damn game!"

"One day off from practice won't ruin your chances of winning nearly as much as a quarterback with a bad arm!"

Hatsumi looked up at the sound of loud voices to find two teenagers getting out of the elevator. One was a rather scary looking young man with a blatant scowl on his face while the other was a pleasant looking young lady who appeared to be reaching the end of her patience.

"You should be less concerned about my arm and more concerned about what people are going to think when they find out we went to see a doctor together." The scary man started with a sneer.

"And you should be more concerned about your arm and less about a game that isn't even coming up for another couple of weeks." The pretty girl snapped back before turning her attention to the shocked faced nurse at the registry. "We have an appointment at three under Mamori Anezaki."

The nurse was momentarily stunned by her pleasant attitude. "Um... the doctor's running behind today so I'm afraid you'll have to wait but first I need you to fill out a few forms."

Taking the offered pen with an appreciative smile the girl started filling in the blanks at the counter. When the boy attempted to escape while she was busy she didn't even bother looking up as she grabbed on to the back of his shirt, keeping him firmly in place. The blond had looked like he desperately wanted to shoot something.

'Or someone...' The nurse couldn't help but think as she took the finished forms. She watched the couple wearily as they took a seat in the corner. There they sat in relative quiet, except for a few insults, until she called for them again.

"Miss?" The girl glanced up from the magazine she was reading. "The doctor's ready to see you now."

The boy got up out of his seat and was about to go in when the girl caught him by his jacket sleeve. He turned to find her hand held out expectantly as she marked her page with the other. Then she looked up at him.

"Hand them over."

The nurse raised a curious eyebrow.

The boy gave her a smirk. "Don't know what you're talking about."

"Hiruma-kun." There was a slight edge in her tone and a certain knowing look in her eye as she stuck her hand out further.

"Che." Suddenly there was a small hand gun, a couple of grenades, and what appeared to be some sort of high caliber weapon that she was sure was illegal in three different countries; including Japan. The nurse's eyes widened in shock as the young woman took each item- carefully of course- but calmly. As if this was completely routine thing for her to do on a day to day basis.

"All of them."

An additional string of ammunition, two larger firearms, a bazooka that she couldn't for the life of her figure out how he had kept it hidden, and a few other items she probably could live without ever seeing again made themselves known.

"Fucking happy now?"

The girl smiled and nodded, carefully placing each object in a large duffel bag at her side. He had almost made it to the sanctuary of the check up room when her voice once again penetrated the otherwise silent atmosphere.

"And the book."

Before the poor nurse had time to react he had cursed something under his breath while throwing a small projectile at the girl. Who promptly caught it and placed it in the bag with the other lethal items. With that the blond man slammed the door shut with a loud, "Fucking manager."

The girl went back to reading an article about how to get stubborn grass stains out of white pants.

And the nurse contemplated on whether or not her date would believe her about what happened at work.

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	23. Absolutely Positively Yes

Chapter Twenty Three: Absolutely Positively Yes

Disclaimer: I do not own Eyeshield 21. Future-Fic.

Song Playing: All American Girl

Theme 75: Positive

Three girls sat at a popular coffee place where they met every Thursday afternoon without fail. Two of them were completely slack jawed while the third appeared to be rather anxious. The one called Sara was clutching her friend's left hand with a vice grip while Ako scrutinized the diamond. After a good five minutes on no one saying anything the two leaned back in their seat, shock still evident on their faces. Finally the brunette decided that something had to be said. "You know that football will always come before you, right?"

"Yes." The three-fourths Japanese woman replied as she twisted the still unfamiliar ring on her finger.

Ako leaned foreword a little. "He has an unhealthy obsession with illegal firearms."

"I'd be frightened if he didn't." Mamori took a sip of her drink and grimaced as she realized all too late that it had gone cold.

Sara started making frantic hand gestures as she spoke in rapid session. "He's not above blackmail and threats. He's sure to have an army of people who want him dead and don't care who's in the way. You could very well be in danger!"

"Most likely." The former manager of the devilbats answered with a simple nod of her head.

Her blonde friend didn't try to hide the disbelief in her voice. "Yet despite everything we've said you're willing to accept all that and marry him anyway?"

"That's why I said yes." Mamori couldn't help but smile as she answered.

"And you're sure there's nothing we can do to change your mind?" Still unsure of how safe she felt about allowing one of her best friends to marry a man she had feared in high school and truthfully was still frightened of, Sara had to be sure that her friend knew what she was getting into.

"Nothing." The happily engaged girl said with a grin. Her eyes and posture radiating confidence and determination to back up her answer.

Ako took both of the older girl's hands in her own and looked her in the eye. "We really want you to stop and think about this. Is this really the guy you want to spend the rest of your life with? Are you going to be able to put up with his personality?"

"I'm still here aren't I?" She flashed a grin as she gently tugged her hands out of their hold.

Sara was also looking surprisingly stern about the whole situation. "We're serious. Do you really love this guy?"

"Yeah." Her friend's didn't miss the slightly dreamy look on her face as she paused and let out a contented sigh. "I do."

"You're sure now?" Ako asked.

She held back a chuckle as she spoke. "I'm sure."

"Positive?" Sara echoed.

At this she threw her head back, busting out in full blown laughter. Then she smiled showing off every one of her pearly whites and said in the most reassuring confident voice she had, "Absolutely positively yes already!"

"Well, then congratulations." Finally giving up on trying to change her friend's mind and accept the inevitably Ako gave her a hug. Then proceded to mentally start clearling her scheduale for the months to come. After all a wedding didn't plan itself.

Mamori let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you."

"You realize that he's crazy, right?" Ako had to make sure before she completely gave her consent.

Instead of getting angry her smile only seemed to grow. "Yeah."

"Just checking."

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	24. Simplistic Intimacy

Chapter Twenty Four: Simplistic Intimacy

Disclaimer: I do not own Eyeshield 21. Special thanks to Yue-neko who inspired this.

Song Playing: One Last Breath

Theme 38: Touch

Hiruma was not a physical kind of guy.

He didn't shake hands. He didn't give pats on backs. He would give the occasional kick in the rear and surprise kidnapping which forced contact but that was as far as his expected physical connections went. There was the one rare moment where he had placed his hand over their manager's mouth to keep her from talking but that was as close as he was willing to get to touching someone that didn't involve tackles.

It worked well for him.

Mamori was a hands on kind of girl.

She gave out hugs. She linked hands. She couldn't turn up the oppertunity to offer a comforting embrace, to award a job well done with a simple tap on the arm, to grab shoulders and shake the person with excited relief. It went against her naturaly nurturing personality to hold back and not fuss over others. It was the way she expressed herself while including others.

It was how she worked.

So, when they first started dating it proved quite an interesting point: this issue of touching.

It was something she hadn't even noticed for the first few months. After all she was busy with it being their last year at Deimon. In fact it was brought to her attention from an outside source. One of her friends had asked how their current romantic relationship was any different from their previous professional one. Her first instinctual response was to insist that there was a difference but then she was asked what that difference was.

After an awkward pause she stated that they kissed now.

Looking back on it her own words sounded rather weak but it had gotten her thinking. Thinking about what normal couples did and what they did. Normal couples held hands, linked arms, hugged, and kissed so there was barely a sliver of light between them... Mamori quickly shook that mental image out of head as she continued on with her original train of thought.

Though thinking about it now even their kisses didn't involve much contact. Not to say that they weren't passionate, because they were. It's just that while their lips were completely pressed together their bodies were far enough apart that a kid running down the street could duck between them and get away unscathed. It also seemed that all their kisses took place near a building because his arms were always leaning against the wall on either side of her head but never touching. Her hands eventually found their way to his hair or chest but it was she who reached out. Never him.

She knew they weren't a conventional high school couple. Their relationship was in no way 'normal' or healthy as one of her friends pointed out.

She readily accpted this, relished it really. She didn't want to be one of those clinging couples that spent every possible moment together. Nor did she want to be that constantly fighting couple that were on and off again more times than a light switch. Actually she enjoyed the place they were at, where they still butted heads but at the same time reaching a mutural understanding.

Still... a little bit of physical affection was wanted and needed if they had any hope of making it.

So she learned if she wanted to hold hands or link arms when walking down the street then she couldn't wait around for him to read her mind, she had to take charge. And take charge she did. She was nervous at first. What if he objected? What if he thought she was getting too clingy? Worse yet, what if he rejected her touch? She wasn't sure if she was strong enough to handle that blatant of a rejection.

In the end all her worrying had been for not. When she had cautiously reached out and grabbed his hand while they were walking around downtown he had merely given her a curious side glance before returning his attention to the many shop windows. She had to repress the urge to sigh in relief.

Over a course of time these sort of simple gestures became more frequent, natural, almost welcomed. If she saw something special in the window of a department store she would grab hold of his hand and drag him in with her. When she was feeling cold she'd link arms with him and walk a little closer. Once she made the first move he didn't hesitate to wrap an arm around her shoulder or waist or hold her hand back.

He was willing to participate in the more tender shows of affection, he just wouldn't initiate it.

It wasn't until they had their first fight, their first real fight as a couple that he realized how accustomed he had become to those little touches.

They had always fought over a wide range of things but nothing anyone, including them took to seriously. But something was different about this one. For one thing no one but them knew what it was about, which was strange in itself. When they fought everyone in a three block radius knew what they were fighting about. For another neither of them would explain to anyone else what was going on. Normally you couldn't get them to stop their rants about insufferable quarterbacks and whiney managers.

But then came the final blow, which went unknown to everyone except them. They had stopped touching.

Well technically she was the only one who had stopped because he had never started to begin with, excluding the kisses he started. They still talked, though yelled was probably a better word, on a daily basis. They didn't avoid each other like other couples did when they argued. In fact they seemed unable to stay out of each other's sight in an effort to win at whatever weird arguement game they where playing.

It took a week for them to patch things up to the point where they could officially say that they weren't fighting.

Then it was like nothing had ever happened.

Another three days came and went, things were back to normal. They had resumed their routine of kisses without bodily contact and their walks downtown. What hadn't resumed were the casual touches that she used to bestow upon him. It was something that she hadn't really thought about or noticed. In fact it was actually brought to her attention by Hiruma, of all people.

Ironically enough they were walking around downtown side by side on a warm Sunday afternoon when she felt something brush against her hand. Ignoring it as an accidentally bump she continued on admiring the day as if she hadn't noticed. Until she felt the same something tap the back of her hand but when she looked there was nothing there and he was staring off to the side. A bit suspicious but not worried enough to bring it up she turned her attention to her left to admire the clothing in the storefront. Not a minute later that something grazed her hand once again.

This time she took his larger hand in her own.

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	25. The Best Man

Chapter Twenty Five: The Best Man

Disclaimer: I do not own Eyeshield 21. Future-Fic.

Song Playing: She Will Be Loved

Theme 7: Friend

Musashi decided that there were a few things people never listed as the duties of being the best man at a wedding. He knew the couple themselves were rather unconventional so logically their wedding would be... interesting to say the least. Still he never expected the preparations to be quite so chaotic.

His first challenge as the best man actually came before they were even engaged. Next to the actual proposal it was the single most important thing before the marriage: the ring.

_Musashi checked his watch for what seemed like the hundredth time in the last hour. From his seat in the corner he leaned back his head and stared at the ceiling. It was a plain boring cream colored and looked exactly like the ceiling in the last four jewelry stores they had been in that morning. Still staring up he spoke. "You find one yet?"_

_"Diamonds. They're all fucking diamonds." The blond haired customer grumbled in disgust as his sharp eye scrutinized the glass case full of engagement rings. _

_The former kicker followed a fly with his eyes as it scurried across the wall. "They say that diamonds are forever."_

_Something that sounded similar to idiotic babble was said as the blonde stormed out of the glittering store. A moment later the other man let out a sigh and reluctantly removed himself from his comfortable seat and followed his frustrated companion out the door. _

_It took an additional three stores, seven total, before the ever irritated blond had found exactly what he was looking for: a simple gold banded ring with an orange topaz in the center with two smaller blue topazes on either side. None of the gems were overly huge or eye-catching but they were exactly what he wanted. _

Things went fairly smoothly after that until the big day actually arrived. It was then that things got complicated. First came the fight to keep the groom from seeing the bride before the ceremony started.

_"Get out of the way, fucking gramps!"_

_Musashi merely turned the page of the newspaper he was currently reading. At the moment he was sitting in the rather dangerous spot of right in front of the only door that could provide an exit for the angry groom. "No can do. Haven't you even heard that it's bad luck to see the bride in her gown before the ceremony?"_

After that there was the matter of convincing him that he could not kidnap the bride and blackmail the fist person with a marriage lisence to wed them.

_The sound of a thumb rapidly dialing a number caused Musashi to look up from an interesting article about how a construction accident had caused a personality change in a worker to find the devilish blonde talking over the phone. "Well then unless you want your wife to find out what kind of 'business' you're really doing after work hours. You're going to make time cause we're going to be there in ten minutes. So get those vows ready and-"_

_The best man promptly snatched the cell out of the groom's hand and ended the call. He then slipped the electronic device in his suit pocket. He continued on with his article despite his friends curses and threats. All of which he responded with the off handed comment of, "Anezaki isn't going to settle for a shotgun wedding."_

Stripping him of all weaponry before the vows was war itself. It had taken the entire former defensive line of the devilbats to hold him down while he carefully disarmed him of all firearms, a special request from the bride.

_"Fucking brats! Let go!" The groom yelled as he attempted to break the iron grip they all had on him._

_Musashi shook his head at the sight before him. Kurita was restraining the former quarterback by his arms while Daikichi and Kuroki keld on to his left leg. Then there was Togano and Jumanji who both had a vice grip of the demon's right leg. All in all they had him pretty much completely restrained. _

_The best man quickly went to work on pulling gun after gun, firearm after firaearm, out of his pockets, hands, shoes, anything that could possibly hold a weapon. Then when he was done with that he searched the places that he normally wouldn't expect to have a hidden danger. All the while Sena and Monta made fast work of properly disposing the ever growing pile. _

_At the foul mouthed threats being directed to him he camly stated that, "Promised you'd be clean when you said your vows."_

But the most surprising task of all had to have been the act of actually getting the groom down the aisle to the alter.

_For all the yelling and pacing he had been doing, the groom was surprising silent and rather stiff as he stood before the door that lead him to the rest of his life. He didn't move. He didn't talk. He just... stood there, staring at the woodwork._

_Musashi checked his watch before shoving both hands in his pockets. He turned his head as he took in the scenery of the sunny spring day. "You have to go in sooner or later."_

_He was met with silence._

_The former kicker ran a hand through his hair as he actually felt the tension the radiate from his friend. He attempted once again to encourage the blond foreword. "The guests should be settled in by now."_

_Once again he was greeted with nothing._

_He let out a sigh as he watched a bird flutter by, if he didn't do something soon there could be problem. So he pulled out his final resort. If this didn't work he was calling Kuirta in and have him physically carried into the temple. "Anezaki won't forgive you if you leave her at the alter."_

_"Shut up fucking gramps!"_

_He turned his head to find the groom glaring daggers, his eyes clearly reflected that he was beyond angry at being accused for even thinking of just leaving her there in front of everyone of such a day. With a new resolve he snapped his attention to the door and flung it open_

_Watching him disappear as the doors closed behind him, he couldn't help but smile._

Standing at his spot next to the groom, he watched his expression as the bride made her way down the aisle. He decided that it was all worth it to see Anezaki in her white wedding dress and Hiruma looking like he was struck by lightning. He was so pleased with himself that he completely ignored the fact that he still had no idea what he was going to say for his toast. After all he had been through coming up with a speech was going to be a piece of cake.

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	26. The More The Merrier

Chapter Twenty Six: The More The Merrier

Disclaimer: I do not own Eyeshield 21. Future-Fic.

Song Playing: Crazy Little Thing Called Love

Theme 56: Choke

Mamori made herself comfortable on the couch that resided in the small living room of her and Hiruma's new home. Picking up the remote she turned on the TV and flipped through the channels until the familiar sight of spiky blond hair surrounding pointed ears caught her attention. The scene of her husband sitting in an armchair talking somewhat politely to a female reporter confused her for a moment, until she remembered the reason that he had to leave so early that morning. 'That's right, he had that live televised interview today.'

Attention fully captured the quarter American turned up the volume and watched with curiosity. From the way they were talking it seemed she had already missed a good part of their conversation.

_"... about football. It seemed that you just recently got married."_

_The quarterback popped a bubble. "I did."_

_"Care to tell us about the lucky bride? Like what's her name? How did you two meet? You kept your wedding extremely well concealed. I haven't been able to find out anything about it from anyone except for a few people who attended but they wouldn't give me a comment."_

_He leaned back in his chair. "We enjoy our privacy." _

Feeling her stomach growl in hunger, the auburn haired woman reluctantly pulled herself away for the program and went to the kitchen for a snack.

_"Understandable. Is there anything you are willing to tell us about your mystery bride?" _

_He blew another bubble. "She's a bossy neat freak and the queen of high speed snack eating." _

She glared at the television screen as she returned to the couch and took an angry bite out of her apple.

_"...Okay. How about her job? What does she do for a living?" _

_He idly drummed his fingers on the arm rest. "Pre-school teacher at this place downtown." _

_"How admirable! So she must enjoy children. How about you, Hiruma san? How many kids do you want to have? One? Two?" _

_At this he turned so he was staring directly at the camera, the corners of his mouth turned slightly upward in a dangerous smirk. _

If she didn't know better, Mamori could have sworn that he was staring directly at her. Though she couldn't help but wonder what his answer would be. Intrigued she continued to take another bite out of her apple.

_"Five." _

-Which she promptly choked on. After a good minute of coughing and sputtering she managed to dislodge the piece of fruit. She was taking a drink of water when she heard the rest of his response.

_"At least." _

It took a solid five minutes before she was able to recover from the water going down the wrong way.

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	27. Doctor Patient Confidentiality

Chapter Twenty Seven: Doctor Patient Confidentiality

Disclaimer: I do not own Eyeshield 21.

We're Having A Baby Arc: 1/1

Song Playing: Mr. Mom

Theme 54: Patient

"Sir-Sir! You're going to have to calm down! I can't understand a word you're saying!" A poor frazzled nurse tried to calm an angry sounding man over the phone. "You want to talk with who? I'm sorry but he's on a lunch break if you could just wait a- no I don't know where but if you could just calm down I can take a mess- I told you he's on his lunch break! You can't talk to him but I'll be more than happy to tell him you called if you would just-"

The sound of the door opening to the waiting room of the doctor's office caught the young nurse's attention and she nearly cried in relief when she saw that it was just the person she needed. Covering the mouthpiece with her hand she let out a sigh, "Thank Kami you're here, Mr. Hayashi! This man has been demanding to speak with you and he simply won't calm down!"

"Really?" The elderly man asked as he took a bite out of his sandwich. Tucking the newspaper that he had been reading under his arm, he waved his hand at her. "Sounds interesting. Give it here."

Eager to be rid of the unreasonable person on the other end she shoved the phone in his hands and made a break for the vending machine. After all that she figured she deserved a chocolate bar for her troubles. The kind doctor fumbled with the phone for a moment before placing it by his ear. "This is Dr. Hayashi speaking."

_"It's about time fucking quack!" _

"Hiruma-sama." The doctor took another big bite out of his sandwich. "What do I owe this unexpected surprise?"

_"Is she having a fucking baby?" _

Swallowing his food, he took a swing of the coffee he had left there earlier only to find it had gone cold. Shuddering at the foul taste he tossed the cup. "Who's having a baby?"

_"My wife!" _

"Is she, now?" He continued eating his lunch. "Congratulations."

_"Don't change the subject and answer the question!" _

He took a seat and propped his feet up on the counter. "Hiruma-sama, you know I can't release that kind of information."

_"So, she is?" _

Closing his eyes he leaned back a little further in his chair. "I told you I can't tell you anything."

_"Then she's not?" _

He let out a tired sigh as he ran a hand over his forehead. "I can neither confirm nor deny either of your questions. All I can tell you is that she came to see me. Anything more and I'll be breaking doctor patient confidentiality."

_"Screw doctor patient confidentiality! She's my fucking wife and I have the right to know!" _

"Then I would have to suggest that you talk to her." Checking his watch, he noticed that his next appointment was due any minute. Interrupting the blond demon's tirade he sat up. "I'm sorry to interrupt Hiruma-sama but my one o' clock should be here soon. I'm sure I'll be hearing from you soon so until then."

_"Fucking quack! Don't you-"_

The good doctor hung up and straightened out his coat. Hearing the door open he turned to the entrance and smiled at the familiar face. "Mamori-san. Always a pleasure to see you and right on time as always." The young woman nodded her head and the two walked to his office. "So, how's that husband of yours?"


	28. An Obvious Lie

Chapter Twenty Eight: An Obvious Lie

Disclaimer: I do not own Eyeshield 21.

Song Playing: Rockstar- Nickelback

Theme 23: False

The worried manager of the Deimon devilbats checked her watch and glanced anxiously around. The game to decide the winner of the Christmas Bowl was going to start within the hour and Hiruma had seemingly disappeared, a very unusual action so close to game time. She was just getting ready to start calling his numerous phones when a passing conversation caught her attention.

"That was fast. Nobody in the bathroom?" A teenage boy asked his friend.

Said friend jumped from one foot to another. "I haven't gone yet! There's some guy in there!"

"When has that ever stopped you?"

The boy shook his head vehemently. "You don't understand! This guy was crazy! He looked like one of those scary American bad guys you see in those movies and when I ran in there he shot at me! He actually shot at me! I nearly went right there!"

After that she had tuned out as she rushed to where the nervous teenager had come from.

Upon arriving at her destination she paused for a moment outside and stared momentarily at the sign on the door clearly indicating that it was in fact the entrance to the men's room. Steeling her nerves she pushed open the door and slipped inside, preparing herself and praying to whoever was up there that her assumption was not incorrect. Stepping into the empty bathroom she bent down low and looked under the row of stalls.

The sight of a familiar pair of legs captured her attention. Quickly she made her way into the one occupied stall, only to find the one and only demon quarterback bent foreword on his knees empting his stomach contents out into the toilet before him. Feeling the presence of someone standing behind him the blond teen glared up from his position.

The quarter American saw a quick flash of emotions ranging from relief that it was her to shame at being caught in such a moment of complete weakness. Then that persistent anxiety came speeding back, making his stomach feel like thousands of butterflies were let loose in his abdomen, and he returned his attention back to the porcelain bowl.

Not quite sure what to do, she hesitantly reached out and rubbed his back with one hand. When he didn't yell or push her hand away she decided to try to say something. "I think the meat that we ate was bad. I just did the exact same thing and Kuirta-kun looked like he was starting to feel a little unwell."

And even though both of them knew full well that his current position had nothing to do with the meat-which was perfectly fine- neither of them mentioned it.

-

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	29. Big Bang Theory

Chapter Twenty Nine: Big Bang Theory

Disclaimer: I do not own Eyeshield 21.

We're Having A Baby Arc: 2/2

Song Playing: Lifestyles Of The Rich And Famous

Theme 93: Celebrate

The former manager of the Devilbats sat at the table that resided in her kitchen and quickly started dialing numbers on her cell phone. She didn't have to wait long before a familiar voice answered on the other end. "Hey, Suzuna. It's Mamori... nice to talk to you too... I would love a girl's night out... next week's fine. Listen I called because I have something important I need to tell you... no Youichi hasn't been arrested. It's good news... I'm-"

KABOOM!

"Suzuna?" The auburn haired woman didn't even flinch at the sound of a loud explosion. "You couldn't hear me? I said I'm-"

BANG! BANG! BANG!

This time the quarter-American plugged her other ear and raised her voice. "I _said_ I'm-!"

CRASH!

"Just a minute." Mamori rose from her seat and made her way to the back door. Opening it she stuck her head outside and turned her head to where a certain blond ex-quarterback was shooting off generous amounts of artillery and fireworks. A grin that went way beyond crazed delight was present on his face. "Youichi! You've been doing that all morning! I know you want to celebrate but I need to talk to Suzuna! Would it kill you to be quiet for ten seconds?"

The blond paused in his merriment and looked at his watch. "You've got five."

Not wasting a moment she returned to her conversation. "I said I'm pregnant."

She had barely gotten the words out of her mouth when the biggest firework yet was lit and exploding in the sky followed almost immediately by a friendly fired rain of bullets and manic laughter. "Ya-ha!"


	30. The Risk

Chapter Thirty: The Risk

Disclaimer: I do not own Eyeshield 21.

We're Having A Baby Arc: 3/3

Song Playing: I Would Do Anything

Theme 61: Chance

Hiruma had always been a little... unconventional at best. Since he had found out that he was going to be a father he had completely thrown himself into some sort of project. He wouldn't tell her what it was and every time she tried to take a peek he stopped. Finally she shrugged it off as something she probably really didn't want to know.

It wasn't too long after that, that he began acting strange. And not his normal strange either.

Suddenly she wasn't allowed to lift anything heavier than a single bag of groceries. He had actually taken the plastic bags filled with food out of her arms and told her that he would be doing the shopping from then on. Then he kicked her out of the kitchen one fine evening when she had been handling a piece of beef for dinner. He had actually kicked her out and announced that he would take of the meal. After which he ordered her to go wash her hands with hot water and soap. She hadn't handled a piece of raw meat since.

But neither of his newly developed quirks compared the incident at the mall where they had been browsing through baby items. Well, she had been browsing he had been grumbling about some sort of stupid purple dinosaur that was singing on a small television set in the children's video section. They had just left the store and where waiting in line at the food court when then man in front of them had pulled out a cigarette.

The man had barely inhaled before Hiruma had shot the lighted end of the cigarette off with precision aim. She quickly dragged him back home before security had arrived.

It was nearly a week later that Mamori found herself going a bit stir crazy. Not being allowed to cook or carry anything heavy had limited her activities to a very short list. Letting out a heavy sigh she plopped herself at the dining room table and glanced over to where her husband was typing away at something in the seat across from her. Taking the lid off a box of chocolates that Suzuna had brought over she grabbed one and was in the process of bringing it up to her mouth when it suddenly wasn't there anymore.

Blinking in confusion she looked up just in time to see Hiruma's disgusted face as he swallowed the sweet.

Okay. That did it. He had been acting weird ever since he found out she was pregnant and she was going to find out why. "What's wrong with you?"

"What the hell are you babbling about?"

"You! You've been acting weird ever since you found out that I'm having a baby." Mamori glared at him as she started counting off examples on her fingers. "I can't lift anything. I can't cook. You shot at a stranger. You ate my chocolate. You don't even like chocolate! So what's wrong with you?"

His eyes narrowed slightly. "I'm not taking a fucking chance."

Slightly taken back by his response, she raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"

"I'm not taking a fucking chance." He repeated. His face set in a serious expression that she hadn't seen since their old football days. He continued to explain his previously vague answer. "With the baby. I'm not about to let you hurt yourself by moving crap or get sick from raw meat and hell will freeze over before I let some fucking idiot put my kids life in danger because he has no self-control."

Mamori, while touched by his concern, still had one last question. "And the chocolate?"

"Champagne truffle. Fucking disgusting too."


	31. A Strange Little Country

Chapter Thirty One: A Strange Little Country

Disclaimer: I do not own Eyeshield 21.

We're Having A Baby Arc: 4/4

Song Playing: Girl All The Bad Guys Want

Theme 34: Neutral

"Yes."

"No."

Dr. Hayashi blinked in slight surprise at the contradictory response to his question before he gave a knowing smile. Nodding his head he turned his attention to the machine in front of him, thus causing him to completely miss the glare exchanged between the wedded couple. He let out a little chuckle as he made a few quick notes on his chart. "Ah, yes. I remember back when my wife was pregnant with our first child. We couldn't agree for the longest time on whether or not we should learn the gender of the baby before hand. I wanted to wait until the actual birth but she wanted to know right away. In the end she got what she wanted but she promised that next time..."

Unfortunately for the poor doctor, neither parent was listening to his nostalgic chatter.

"_We_ want to wait until the baby's born so that it's a surprise. Right, Youichi?" The mother to be's eyes narrowed in a rather dangerous fashion.

While her glare worked on any other male, it had no effect on her husband, who merely furrowed his eyebrows in irritation. "Speak for yourself, fucking wife. I want to know now."

"No you don't." Her voice was getting dangerously quiet.

Like wise his lowered in volume but increased in intensity. "Yes I do."

"Why don't we let the doctor decide? After all _he_ understands that the gender shouldn't be reveled until the birth." The brunette suggested, though it sounded a bit more like a threat.

"Hey fucking quack!"

The good doctor looked up only to find two sets of eyes staring at him with an intensity that he wasn't quite comfortable with. "Wha-?"

"Should we wait till the fucking brat's coming out or should we find out now so we can start planning for when it arrives?" The blond made sure that the glint from the small firearm in his pocket caught the doctor's eye.

"I don't-"

"Or should we _wait_ like nature intended?" She sent a small side glare to her husband, which he promptly ignored. "Just because _some_ of us are too impatient to wait a few measly months doesn't mean we have to know now, right?"

He blinked for a moment before he started chuckling to himself. His response was not the answer that they were looking for. "Nope. Nuh-huh. No way no how." Their looks of confusion were lost on him as he focused on writing down a few notes, only to find his pen had run out of ink. Getting up he begun shuffling through drawers. "I know what you're trying to do and I'm not about to get in the middle of this."

Mamori smiled and spoke in a comforting voice. "But we're asking you as our doctor-"

"And I'm telling you as your doctor to figure it out for yourselves." He answered with his back still turned on the couple.

The pregnant woman tried once again to get an answer. "But-"

"Not gonna happen."

This time it was Hiruma who was arguing. "Just give us an answer dammit!"

"No. I'm a neutral zone. I have no opinion on the matter. I am Switzerland." The doctor declared smiling as he finally located a working pen.

She couldn't help but be confused at his statement. "What?"

"Switzerland." He repeated as he continued his earlier task of jotting down notes. "It's a small country in the middle of Germany, Italy, Austria, and France. A strange little place where the cheese has holes."


	32. Gladiators Of Modern Japan

Chapter Thirty Two: Gladiators Of Modern Japan

Disclaimer: I do not own Eyeshield 21.

Song Playing: Wanted Dead Or Alive

Theme 32: Torn

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Bits of shredded paper fell about the room, a round of bullet casings still hot from use littered the floor, and the slight echo of the shots still hovered in the air. With great caution and more then a little hesitance a head appeared from behind the couch, wide fearful eyes darting from side to side before landing on an angry looking young man sitting at the dining room table. His own chair was a few feet away sprawled on its side from his speedy retreat for cover.

The irate blond was muttering curses as he flipped through the various stadium plans before him. Occasionally stopping to shoot to shreds or set fire to the ones he found particularly offensive. In a manner that greatly resembled a solider making his way through a minefield in the middle of a war zone, the poor architect repositioned himself back at the table. Mentally berating himself for convincing his boss into allowing him to head the design and construction for the Hiruma account. What could he have possibly have been thinking?! He was barely out of college and was in no way ready for the dog eat dog world of business! Why he might as well pack up his things and just-

"Hey, fucking tomato!"

Running a hand nervously though his rather unusually colored hair he tried his hardest not to stutter. "M-my name i-is Yoshida Mister Hiruma sir, Ichiro Yoshida."

Only to fail miserably.

"Or tomato!" He quickly re-stated after he caught his client's glare. "Tomato's fine. Perfect in fact! It just so happens my favorite vegetable is the tomato, well technically it's a fruit but I myself always though of it as more of a-"

His panicked ranting was quickly cut off by a round of ammunition as another one of his preciously drawn plans quickly resembled Swiss cheese.

"They're all too small! This is the devilbat's stadium! It needs to be huge and intimidating, none of this shrimp stuff!" The former quarterback yelled as he promptly shredded the rest of the blueprints until there was nothing left but a small pile that strongly resembled confetti.

The red head's hand found themselves twitching in anticipation at what his client would criticize next. "Y-you mean you want it more l-like Tokyo Dome?"

"Better, bigger, that dome should look like a fucking matchbox compared to ours!! The opponents should be trembling in fear before they ever set foot on the grass inside. All of these aren't big enough!" The fact that he was twirling a machine gun in one hand did nothing for the architect's nerves.

Just as he was on the verge of a complete mental breakdown a miracle occurred. A pretty young woman entered in silently with a pot of coffee, her stomach bulging out just enough to make it obvious that she was with child. While the blond devil did not acknowledge her presence, preferring to grumble to himself as he tried to figure out what he wanted for his stadium, he most certainly had. How such and angel of a woman ever ended up with a man like his client he preferred not knowing. "Would you care for some coffee Yoshida-san?"

He nodded. His jumpiness over Hiruma's obvious displeasure evident as he ran a hand through his hair and his knee jittered.

As the young mother-to-be leaned down to fill his mug, she whispered information into his ear. She then straightened up walked to the other end of the table and started to pour the hot coffee into her husband's cup as if nothing had happened. There was an awkward pause as she started sweeping up the scraps of paper, while her husband was making plans in his head, and he worked up the courage to speak up.

"Y-you mean like a-" He gulped as he glanced to his right to find her giving him a reassuring smile. With shaking hands he finished his suggestion. "Coliseum?"

"A coliseum." A thoughtful look came over his face as he took out his ever faithful devil's handbook and started sketching out ideas. "Yeah a big fucking coliseum with pillars. The seats can be stone, marble or granite with railings and arches. Huge fucking arches at the entrances and exits with demons and animals carved into them. It'll be like walking into the gates of hell..."

For the first time since stepping through the door he let out a sigh of relief, allowing himself to relax. Before too long he found himself in a some what normal conversation with the blonde, swapping ideas and making sketches. Somewhere in the chaos of their business discussion, he managed to catch the eye of the kind woman who had helped him out. Quickly, while the ex-quarterback's head was down, he mouthed out a thank you.

She simply gave a knowing nod before disappearing back into the kitchen.

-

-

-


	33. Men Are From Mars

Chapter Thirty Three: Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus

Disclaimer: I do not own Eyeshield 21.

We're Having A Baby Arc: 5/5

Song Playing: The Howling- Within Temptation

Theme 11: Disgust

Mamori let out a wistful little sigh as she gazed lovingly at the machine in front of her that showed a sonogram of the baby growing inside her, though it was still too early to even try and guess the gender. She placed a hand over her husband's larger one, which was currently resting on her shoulder as he stood behind her. Playing with his wedding ring she allowed herself a few more moments to stare at the screen before turning her attention elsewhere. With a small smile upon her face and a glow that only came from being with child, she leaned her head back to get a good look at her husband's face.

It seemed to her that he had never looked so handsome as he did right now. His eyebrows were furrowed together and his eyes completely oblivious to her blatant staring, in favor of the black and white moving picture of their baby. It seemed like he was trying to commit every tiny detail of their child to memory. His mouth was in that firm line that she tended to associate with matters of great importance. Matters such as Christmas Bowl preparations, his proposal, and whether or not it was too presumptuous of him to assume he was getting a son (it was if she had any say in the matter). Returning her gaze back to the sonogram she let herself enjoy this small moment of domestic bliss. Another happy sigh escaped her lips.

She couldn't help the dreamy tone in her voice when she spoke. "Isn't it the most beautiful thing you've ever seen?"

"It looks like a fucking space alien." He, on the other hand, couldn't hide the morbid fascination in his.


	34. Lazy Happy Summer Days

Chapter Thirty Four: Lazy Happy Summer Days

Disclaimer: I do not own Eyeshield 21.

Song Playing: Everything Is Tickety Boo

Theme 58: Summer

On a bright sunny summer day two figures sat atop one of the many tall buildings that made up the skyscraper skyline of modern day Tokyo. These two figures were in fact a young man and a young woman. Both were young, second years at a university that was only a few train stops away from their current location. Lounging in surprisingly comfortable lawn chairs that managed to avoid the afternoon heat by way of a large overheard canopy, the warmed cement topped roof that they resided on was in a state of organized mess. Water bottles in various stated of fullness were all within arm's reach of either student and were surrounded by (in some cases on top of) stacks of papers and folders. Also in easy access was a cup filled with an assortment of writing instruments: pens, pencils, mechanical pencils, highlighters, and a lone eraser. In addition to all of this was a single running laptop.

Not to mention the giant widescreen television complete with a DVD player and speakers that could probably knock a person's pants off if the person who had the remote wanted to, occupied quite a bit of space a few feet in front of them and dead center. The fact that every neighboring building that lived behind the couple could see, not to mention hear, what was playing on the entertainment system was proof enough to it's quality.

Yes. All in all the two casually attired occupants of the roof appeared to be making the most of their summer by relaxing in a way that was both awe aspiring and extensive.

"Have you gone completely bat shit?"

Unless you were in hearing distance, of course.

The woman looked up from the file she was scanning over with a distinctive frown of her face. Glaring, she took a half eaten Popsicle out of her mouth and spoke. "No I haven't. It's a logical counterattack to their defensive strategy. You said it yourself, our only chance is a dive right through the center."

"Don't shove your crazy plans in my mouth." The man, whose hair was a frightening shade of bright blinding blonde, nearly bit through the stick that held his summer treat together. "I said the center was their weakest link, which isn't saying much because their weak spot can still crush our front line. Now how did you get let's make the fucking glass jaw fight his way through that out of what I said?"

"That's not what I said and you know it." She scratched absentmindedly at a bug bite on her knee and tugged her tank top back down so it covered her stomach. "You make it sound like I'm trying to toss him into a pack of hungry wolves."

"That's exactly what you're doing. And people call me the fucking heartless one." Finishing off the last bit of his half melted dessert, the angry looking man stared critically at the sticky wooden stick he had left in his hand. "Why didn't the rooster cross the road?"

Not at all affected by the abrupt change is subject she seemed to ponder the question for a moment. Seemingly not being able to come up with a reply she shrugged her shoulders in defeat.

"Too prove he wasn't chicken." Scrunching his nose in disgust, the man tossed the stick away from him. It landed with a barley noticeable sound a couple of feet away with similar sticks that had suffered the same fate. Meanwhile the blond had opened the ice chest that was between him and his companion and pulled out another Popsicle from the nearly full reciprocal. Discarding the wrapper, he resumed the conversation without any sign that he had ever strayed from the topic at hand. "Fucking glass jaw is fast but he ain't fast enough to avoid the suicidal collision you're setting him up for."

She gave him a smile as hastily kept her own snack from melting all over her hand. "Am I hearing right? Hiruma-kun actually showing concern for hsi fellow team mate? When did this new found sense of caring for others come from?"

He just scowled at her before returning to his own pile of game plans. "I can't go around replacing players every time you decide to kill them off on the field, it's a waste of time that could be spent practicing or making a plan that keeps me from having to blackmail people into a team every game."

Her own eyes narrowed at his word choice. "I'm not trying to kill him and you mean recruit."

"Recruit what?"

"You mean recruit not blackmail." She corrected him just as she finished the last of her popsicle. Holding it a little further away from her person, she read off what was printed on the small piece of wood. "What happened when the shark became famous?" Not even bothering to wait for a response from her friend, he hadn't so much as looked up at the last three she had read out loud, she answered her own riddle. "He became a starfish."

"What dumbass came up with that one? Sharks aren't even fucking fish."

She shrugged and reached into the cooler for another one. "Where's the disk of that game from last season? The one where Hajime-kun dislocated his shoulder. I can show you exactly what I'm talking about instead of denying the fact that I'm not trying to land Aki-kun in the hospital."

"It's already in." The man picked up the remote and began getting the footage ready. "And you can't deny it because it would be lying and I never took you for a filthy liar."

The woman let out a deep heaving sigh and cleaned up the slightly sticky dribble that managed to land on her shorts. "Just shut up and start the play Hiruma-kun."

A rather unusual way to spend a beautiful warm summer day: reviewing game footage, taking notes, reading and re-reading game strategies on top of a hot roof with a person you spend most of the time arguing with. It was not how any sane reasonable person would want to spend one of their few precious days away from school work, study group, extracurricular activities, and family obligations.

Yet neither of them could think of any other place they would rather be.


	35. Hogging The Covers

Chapter Thirty Five: Hogging The Covers

Disclaimer: I do not own Eyeshield 21.

Song Playing: Come Back To Bed

Theme 1: Tired

Youichi Hiruma was a sprawler in bed.

Well... that was expected.

Almost as unexpected as coming home to the small apartment she owned to study just to find herself frozen in her bedroom door jam, backpack still slung over her shoulder, staring unashamedly at the familiar body that currently occupied her bed. Once her mind actually processed that, yes, it was Hiruma and he was indeed long limbs dangling off the sides, shoes still on, could possible be drooling on her pillow asleep on top of her previously neatly made sheets: she did a double take. Her head whipped back to her locked front door before returning back to her impromptu houseguest.

Her brows furrowed together as a thought occurred to her, 'How'd he get into my house?'

Both her windows had been firmly locked in place when she had left this morning and she was currently fidgeting with the only key to her apartment. The front door had also been perfectly intact, no shoe print imbedded into the wood. All in all Mamori was suddenly feeling a lot less secure about the safety of her living space than she had been before she had entered her bedroom.

Before she realized what she was doing, she had quietly shut the door to her bedroom. Being careful to stay as silent as possible she padded over to the kitchen where she gently placed her backpack down before she began rummaging through her cabinets to start on her dinner. As she pulled out enough ingredients to make a meal for two, she considered doubling back waking him up and demanding to know what he was doing acting like he lived in her apartment. Of course this thought only lasted for a moment as she remembered that Cerberus had reduced her mop to toothpicks and her broom had mysteriously disappeared during the last late night practice they had. And there was no way she was going to wake him up completely unarmed. He had a trigger happy finger enough when he was awake and coherent. Who knew what kind of ammunition he might shoot off if she startled him while he slept?

So she contented herself with the fact that she had to make an extra serving for dinner and inventing possible reasons for him to be in her bed when they were only sort of friends.

She was just getting ready to start serving herself when she heard the distinct sounds of someone getting up coming from her room. Looking up, ladle halfway to her bowl, a well rested and wide awake Hiruma walked through the door. Pausing for a brief moment to stare at her wide eyed expression: he offered no explanation as he made his way across the room to take a seat at her small dining table.

So they sat and ate and talked about all the things they normally talked about and some things they had never spoken about until he abruptly decided it was time for him to go. As she cleared the dishes away she pondered the reasons for the unexpected visit.

Who knows? Maybe he was just exhausted and her place was the closest place to catch some z's. Maybe he was playing some sort of mental game that she wasn't aware of yet. Maybe he was just tired of going home to the messy excuse he called a bed room where Cerberus's fierce growls were the only things that broke through the silence that hung in the air. And as she fell asleep that night in the bed that still vaguely carried his scent, she mentally ranked the day as number twelve in her top twenty of weirdest things that had happened to her since becoming as close as you can get without really being friends with the one and only Youichi Hiruma.


	36. The Hand That Rocks The Cradle

Chapter Thirty Six: The Hand That Rocks The Cradle

Disclaimer: I do not own Eyeshield 21. A little different from my other pieces but I like it.

Song Playing: So Much Like My Dad

Theme 5: Son

She was just cleaning up the last of the dinner dishes when she heard the sound of the front door opening and closing. Glancing at the clock, she couldn't help but smile as it seemed her husband had actually managed to get off of work early for the first time that week. Cheerfully she greeted him and waited to hear his reply. When she received none, she stopped washing and called over her shoulder, "Anata?"

Once again she was met with nothing but silence.

With a frown beginning to mar her face, she turned off the faucet and reached for the dishtowel. Drying her hands she turned around with the intention of leaving the small kitchen to investigate just what was happening only to almost die of a heart attack when she saw a familiar face scowling from his place in the door jam. "Youichi?"

The blond shifted so he was standing at his full height. "Kaasan."

"Why-how?" Heart still thundering in her chest, she leaned back against the sink for support. The dishes long forgotten she gripped the damp cloth so hard her fingers were actually aching. Suddenly it occurred to her that something was probably wrong for him to come home at a time when he knew his father wasn't going to be showing up any time soon. Their small family may not be on the best terms wit each other but that didn't change the fact that her little (sentimentally speaking) boy was home for the first time in a long time. "Is everything alright?"

He strode over and took a seat the dining table. "Fucking peachy keen."

"Oh." At a loss for words as it was clear to her that things far from being 'peachy keen' but knowing that he wasn't going to say anything until he wanted to: she began the uncomfortable act of making awkward small talk with her only child. "How's school?"

"Run by idiots."

Loosening the strangle hold she had on the towel, she moved to take a seat across from him. Slightly numb fingers fiddling with the worn fabric. "And the football? You're still doing that?"

"Yeah. "

She rolled her shoulders a little. "Good team this year?"

He gave a casual shrug and stared out the window. "Bunch of dead beat morons but they're getting there."

A heavy silence crowded the kitchen as tugged at frayed edges and he began twirling a small caliber handgun in his hand that hadn't been there a moment ago. Wracking her brain to think of something, anything, to say to her estranged son she kept coming up with blanks. She knew she had things she wanted to ask, wanted to tell him, things she had thought over the years and put in mental storage to bring up if he ever came back. But now that he was here, within arms distance, she couldn't think of a single thing to tell him.

Thus the silence remained.

Fortunately he spoke again before she began to resort to talk about the weather. "She's leaving."

Blinking owlishly, she watched him stop spinning the firearm and carefully place it on the smooth wooden surface. She also rested her hands on the table top. She opened her mouth, closed it, then uttered a small: "What?"

"She said that she's leaving." He ran a hand through his hair. "Out of the blue. No warning. Just she's leaving."

She had no idea where he was going with this. "Youichi, who's leaving?"

"The fucking manager."

Her brows furrowed as she tried to recall who he was referring to. There was a woman that she remembered being mentioned in some of the articles and interviews she had seen while keeping track of her boy's activities. It had been the same girl throughout his high school time, summers, and till recently at his university. If she remembered correctly the woman had helped Youichi run his various football activities. "Are you talking about the Anezaki girl?"

His stiff silence confirmed more than anything that she had guessed correctly.

"Are you having a difficult time finding a replacement?"

"No."

"Is she transfering? Going to work with another team or something?"

This time he just shook his head, which worried her. He was never this quiet, this one word answer deal. Even as a child he was never this... this stony silence. He preferred underlying manipulation and blunt confrontation to the beating around the bush tactic. "Then what's wrong?"

"You remember when you used to tell me that I was a lot like the old man?"

"I- I did say that." Of course he had been a lot smaller, and a lot less intimidating at the time. But she did remember thinking that he was incredibly similar to his father when he was a child. If the old home movies and stories from her mother-in-law about her anata where to be believed, both men had quite the temper and tendency to get in and out of trouble.

"Am I still a lot like him?"

A strange turn in conversation but okay. This she thought long and hard about. True Youichi was much... rougher around the edges while his father had seemingly lost most of his. But still... "You're a lot like how he was when we first got married. Very determined, calculating, a one track mind at times but good intentions."

"Then there was a time when you thought about leaving." At this he looked her right in the eye, hands folded total attention on her.

She furrowed her brows at this. "I suppose but what does this have to do with the Anez-"

"What did he say to you?" Cutting her off before she could question him, he elaborated. "The old man said something, did something that stopped you. I need to know what it was, exactly what it was."

"Are you," She paused for a moment to swallow the lump that had formed in her throat. "Are you in love with this girl? Is that why you're here?"

His arms crossed across his chest and the way he had gone so very still told her all she needed to know.

"Does she know?"

It was only because she was paying so close attention that she noticed the way his shoulders tensed. And it was only because she was his mother that she understood the significance of that small, almost non existent gesture. "Oh Youichi." She let out a sigh and looked at him, really stopped and looked at him. When had her little boy grown into a man? A man with problems and responsibilities and worries. "A girl needs to know."

He didn't stay long after that, declining the offer of food and brushing off her attempts to get him to stay until his father returned. He did, however, grudgingly accept the hug she gave him and listened to her fretting about his cursing, firearms, and the fact that he apparently wasn't eating enough.

Soon she was once again left alone in her modest empty kitchen with a sink partially filled with cold water and dishes and the hope that this girl, this Anezaki would make him happy. That she was good enough for him and that maybe, just maybe, she would make Youichi come home for visits. Happy visits like a family dinner or to talk about school or to help plan their wedding. She really wasn't too picky about the details.

As long as she got to see her little boy (who was not so little any more).


	37. Man's Best Friend

Chapter Thirty Seven: Man's Best Friend

Disclaimer: I do not own Eyeshield 21.

Song Playing: Agony Reprise (Into The Woods)

Theme 94: Old

Cerberus was a dog.

Cerberus was, according to the majority of Japan, the three headed hell hound dog reincarnated into the vicious living garbage disposal that he was.

Cerberus was, despite the biting barking scariness, a good dog. He kept thieves away. He was an excellent motivator. He made sure the food in the fridge never reached its expiration date. And while food was his main reason for sticking so close to Hiruma, and therefore Mamori by association, she still liked to think that he liked her.

She certainly liked him.

They had an understanding between them involving Cerberus being potty trained and walking her home at night after practice. In turn she made sure he was fed regularly and had a warm place when it snowed.

It was strange to think she'd never again hear the snapping of his jaws. There would be no more bite or scratch marks to mend. Leftovers would actually exist.

It was a very depressing thought.

Though it really shouldn't have come as that much of a shock. After all, Cerberus was a full grown eating machine by the time he became the unofficial secondary mascot of the Devil Bats. Then he lived the adventurous life as a member of the football team followed by the years at the university and the last few months in the new apartment shared by the former captain and manager. With all that taken into account and converted into dog years then it was nothing short of a deal with the devil that he had lived as long as he had.

But he had seemed so fine when they had left!

With summer winding down, they had to start getting ready for a new football season to start up again at Deimon High School. Since their graduation the football program there had more or less been run into the ground. Leaving Hiruma, who refused to see what had been his first enterprise die in such a pansy, to storm in and take charge. With no one able (or willing) to work with him on the program the task immediately fell to the ever faithful Mamori. So they had started the preparations needed to bring high school football back up to Hiruma's standards.

His standards involving exiling the previous staff, a complete remodel of the club house, and a team roster of kids who didn't know they were even on the football team yet.

It was like they were seventeen again.

To fast forward they had spent the morning scouting various other schools to see what the competition was shaping up to be when the phone call had come in. Musashi had been at the apartment going through the last season's footage and had been the one to make the discovery.

Now they were sitting in silence on the semi-crowded train ride home.

Hiruma popped his gum and Mamori look up from her seated position to find him staring down at her. With one hand shoved in his pocket and the other gripping the handle bar he said a in a off handed way, "I'm just saying that he scared the shit out of the fucking brats when they first joined. I don't see why he can't continue to motivate the new recruits in the same way."

Mamori glared daggers at him and hissed between clenched teeth, "For the last time we're not stuffing him and sticking him in front of the clubhouse!"


	38. Messy Room Syndrome

Chapter Thirty Eight: Messy Room Syndrome

Disclaimer: I do not own Eyeshield 21.

Song Playing: Princes and Frogs

Theme 8: Floor

The manager of the devilbats couldn't help but smile to herself as she half walked half ran to the field on an early Sunday morning. She had just spent the past couple of weeks completely bedridden after catching a rather nasty case of the flu. She had managed to keep up with her school work thanks to Sara and Ako. Plus Sena came to see her everyday with stat updates and a whole package of instructions, courtesy of a certain quarterback, allowing her to perform all her football duties without delay.

But she preferred not to think about that right now. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, and she was outside for the first time in a long time. The day was looking good.

"Mamori!"

The auburn haired teen looked ahead to find her inline skating friend rapidly making her way towards her... along with what appeared to be the entire cheerleading squad. Her eyes widened at their desperate and somewhat angry demeanor.

"Mamori!" Suzuna engulfed her in a big hug. "You're back! You're finally back!"

Mamori was terribly confused with their over exuberant greeting. With all the hugs and welcomed greeting they were giving her you would think that they hadn't seen each other in years instead of a few weeks.

Before she knew it the manager found herself being dragged by the younger girl the rest of the way to school. The other cheerleaders gladly helping to speed up the journey while adding in their own phrases of relief and gratitude for her return.

They were already halfway to the clubhouse before she managed to extract herself from their grip. Tiding her appearance she stood before the group of ever persisting girls. It took awhile but she eventually succeeded in quieting them down enough for her to talk. "Now what seems to be the problem here?"

It took an additional ten minuets to calm them down enough for her to understand what they were saying.

"It's absolutely terrible!"

"- we can't go in there anymore!"

"They don't listen-"

"You have to help!"

Upon seeing the look of complete puzzlement on their only hope of ever getting to the changing room again's face, Suzuna decided to explain. "Since you've been gone the guys have completely taken over the clubhouse! I tried to get them to clean up but they didn't listen to me! It's disgusting! It sticks! I tried to get through so I could yell at my brother and one of them didn't even have pants on!"

Mamori let out a nervous laugh. "I'm sure you're exaggerating." Her smile faded at the shake of their heads. "Come on it can't be that bad."

One of the taller girls spoke up. "I lived with four older brothers that had to share a room and it never looked that bad."

"There was something growing on one of the bentos that has been there since you got sick." A girl with freckles on her face stated with a frown.

The red head next to her commented. "I saw a pair of underwear on a slot machine when I tried to go in there yesterday."

"You can't even see the floor anymore." Suzuna added in.

Suddenly they couldn't get there fast enough. Standing before the closed doors of the casino type clubhouse, Mamori couldn't help but look over her shoulder one last time at the group of teenage girls. All of whom gave encouraging motions for her to enter the room. Taking a deep breath she braced herself for the worst as she placed her hand on the doorknob and opened the door.

Taking in the sight before her she decided that it wasn't as bad as they had said.

She suppressed a very girly shriek that was threatening to come out when she saw what appeared to be a mouse run by the sole of her sneaker.

It was worse.

She couldn't stop the small shudder of disgust as it rippled through her body. As a child she had always been neat and organized. This was a trait that came in handy when she started school and saved her when she had walked into the much smaller clubhouse for the first time. But this... this was just too much.

To her horror the girls hadn't exaggerated at all, if anything they had downplayed the disaster that was once a clean space. On the counter there was something green inside a bento that she was fairly certain wasn't supposed to be that color. Not only was there a pair of underwear on one of the slot machine handles but there was dirty laundry- she didn't think it was possible for clothes to stand on their own like that- littering the floor. To keep them company there were soda cans, discarded papers, and -to her annoyance- a page from a playboy magazine.

But what made it worst was the fact that they were _living_ in it!

With still a half an hour before practice was due to start the players had decided to relax for a bit in the pig sty that they created. Daikichi and Kuirta seemed to be munching on something in the corner. Jumonji, Monta, and Kuroki were playing blackjack -using cookies and spare chips instead of actual money- with Sena as the nervous dealer. Then there was Togano, who was reading an old issue of Jump with his feet propped on the counter, and was indeed not wearing any pants. Yukimitsu seemed to be trying to make it across the room without tripping over anything while Cerberus and the pig were in a happy slumber on top a pile of socks and shirts.

All of whom were completely oblivious to her presence.

She couldn't take it anymore. Grabbing the broom that had been leaning against the wall gathering dust in her absence she tapped the handle to the only clear space on the floor and spoke with a tone that sounded like an annoyed parental figure. "What happened to this room?"

All eyes turned to her and immediately widened in shock.

"It looks like a typhoon just came through here!" The players couldn't help but feel like they had just made their mother very angry and if there's one thing a teenage boy knows it's this: never be at the wrong end of a lecture with your mom. Especially if it involves a messy room. "I see dirty laundry, food, papers... how could you possibly make this much mess in such a short amount of time?"

No one was ever able to argue with Mamori and they sure as hell weren't about to start now.

It was then that the manager really kicked her clean and motherly instincts into high gear. Crossing the room she opened a cabinet and proceeded to pull out mops, buckets, brooms, trash bags, rags, rubber gloves, and a whole arsenal of cleaning supplies. Then she started to make rounds about the room. After giving the place a thorough inspection and making the boys straighten their postures subconsciously she once again found herself standing at the front door.

Then she took full command. "Sena, Monta I want you to fill these buckets full of warm water. Ask the janitor and tell him I asked you for it. Kuirta, Daikichi I need you two to clean out all the food and toss it. Yukimitsu could you organize all these loose papers? Jumonji take the other two and put all the clothes outside and separate them into piles. One whites. One darks. On reds. Kuroki put on some pants before you do that."

They all looked at each other while avoiding her gaze.

"Now!"

Suddenly they couldn't move fast enough. Tripping over each other as well as anything on the floor. Scrambling about like they were trying to recover a fumble it was almost comedic the way they dove at their assigned jobs, not in anyway questioning her orders.

And she didn't even need a black book.

Speaking of which, the manager checked her watch, it was just about time for practice. If she wasn't mistaken -and she didn't think she was- a certain quarterback should be arriving in three, two, one...

"Fucking manager!"

Right on time.

Immediately she spun around so that she was face to chest with said quarterback. Eyes narrowed, she tilted her head back so that she could glare at him he had time to open his mouth and start spouting orders or insults, a fifty-fifty chance either way, she had shoved the broom into his hands. Then she proceeded to tell him exactly what she expected him to do with it. "This is a broom. You are obviously unfamiliar with it's function. Take it by the handle and sweep up all the trash with the bristle end. Make sure you get around the slot machines and behind the filing cabinets."

She reached behind him and grabbed her other discarded cleaning weapon of choice. This she also shoved in his hands. "This is a mop. It serves a similar function as the broom. If you have any questions, well, you're smart. Figure it out." At this point she had made her way behind him so that she stood in between him and the door. Placing both hands firmly on his back she gave him a shove further into the room. "I want this place back to the way it was before and I'm not taking any excuses."

To drive the point home she stepped outside and slammed the door behind her.

She hadn't even managed to completely turn herself around to face the other girls before she found herself in the middle of a massive group hug.

"That was wonderful!"

"You were amazing in there!"

"I can't believe you actually did that! It was so cool!"

"Oh thank you! Thank you thank you thank you!"

In the back of her mind she too gave herself a pat on the back. After all, if she was going to be spending as much time as she thought she was with the infamous quarterback he was going to have to pull his own weight with the cleaning. There was no way she was going to live in a sty.


	39. A Household Conspiracy

Chapter Thirty Nine: A Household Conspiracy

Disclaimer: I do not own Eyeshield 21.

Songs Playing: Three Days Grace on shuffle

Theme 35: Mate

She had done her fair of laundry in her relatively short span of life. In fact, she had arguably done more than her fair share of dirty laundry. Between her own, the ever expanding American football team, and a several other choice incidences she had probably done her fair share of laundry several lifetimes over. That's months- years even of sorting, soaking, bleaching, washing, drying, ironing, re-sorting and folding experience tucked under her belt.

That being said she had never, a word she didn't use lightly, had this happen to her.

Sure she had shrunken her favorite shirt before. Yes, she would admit to accidently turning a load of whites to pale pinks. There was even an unfortunate incident involving her undergarments being put on the normal setting instead of delicate. Those were all common rookie mistakes. Done in her early laundress career and never done twice.

But this? This was just ridiculous. It really was the only word to accurately describe what was happening with her weekly load of laundry.

Her system of washing her clothes hadn't changed since middle school. She had applied the same stead fast process through high school into college and after graduation. It had never failed her before. So why, she had to ask herself, in the name of all that was holy and right and the good karma that was supposed to be heading her way did she end up with a solitary sock when she emptied the dryer? It wasn't just one time either. She could shrug off a missing sock as a weird phenomenon of nature that occurred every so often. She could even handle it if it happened every once in a while. Sure it would perplex and frustrate her but they were just socks. However to lose a sock every single time she did laundry was completely unacceptable. It was also driving her crazy.

There was no pattern to it either. Sometimes it was the left sock. Other times it was the right. It was from a new pair. Then it was from an old pair. It was his. Next it would be hers. Athletic. Dress. Pattern. Plain. Ankle. Shin. Knee length. Whatever was causing her weekly sock to disappear was indiscriminate.

So, really, why would this week be any different? It had been the same thing every Saturday since they had moved into the apartment complex they shared together.

After breakfast she would spend a solid half hour taking inventory of everything in the kitchen. As she wrote her list out he'd make out his own list of people to harass for the week. Then they would walk to the grocery store, pay, and walk home. She'd put away the food and he'd grab the basket of dirty laundry to put in the living room. Then gather his laptop or phone(s) or some folders while she picked up the basket upon which they'd head down several flights of stairs to where the buildings laundry room resided.

She'd start the laundry process while he did work. She'd head back upstairs to start some general tiding up while he did work. She'd head back downstairs to move the clothes from the washer to the dryer-always making sure that no sock went in unmatched- while he worked. She'd head back upstairs to start on lunch, make the weekly agenda, call Suzuna to chat, then head downstairs to take the clothes out of the dryer all while he worked.

Then came the crucial point where she'd start the folding. First the pants. Second the shirts. Third hangables. Fourth undergarments. Last socks.

Which brought Mamori to her current situation.

As she stuck her head and shoulders into the dryer, something she found herself doing on a regular basis nowadays, she couldn't help but feel that maybe the buildings' machine was just an evil sock eating contraption that got its thrills from making her dig for an article of clothing she was never going to find. Logically she knew that if the sock was missing it was going to stay missing. Past experience had show her that and that was all there is to it.

Except there was this illogical, highly aggravated, stubborn part of her that helped her go head to head with her husband on a daily basis that wouldn't go down without a fight. Which is why she found herself half inside the communal dryer cursing a sock she had no hope in recovering.

However it was precisely because she was head first in the dryer that she would miss the way that Youichi would choose that moment to take a break from whatever he had chosen to occupy himself with that time. Completely oblivious to the almost predatory and wholly satisfactory toothy upturn of the corners of his mouth. Unaware of his eyes that were very much fixated on, what he considered, a very nice part of her anatomy which was currently stuck up in the air- wiggling with her futile efforts. Sixteen missing socks and counting, Hiruma Mamori was still clueless to the fact that her devious husband had one slightly damp sock innocently residing in his pocket.


	40. Four Walls And A Ceiling

Chapter Forty: Four Walls And A Ceiling

Disclaimer: I do not own Eyeshield 21.

We're Having A Baby Arc: 6/6

Song Playing: Song of the Count

Theme 12: Shelter

"Floors are bare wood. Carpet will be needed. Possibility of a rug. Soft. No shag. Consider something educational but fun. Map of Japan. Train set. A football field. Do those exist? Look into it."

Kobayakawa Suzuna was taking her job as the unofficial decorator of the baby's room very seriously. She was currently observing the empty room that was going to be converted from extra storage into the nursery. It was a good sized space, larger than what she would have expected so that had been a pleasant surprise. It gave her more to work with. Notebook tucked under her arm, she spoke clearly into the tape recorder she had brought with her to make sure she didn't forget any ideas she thought of on the spot.

"The space is large. The crib will be mahogany and will be located against the far wall furthest from window to avoid cold drafts in the winter. Note to self: look into comfortable rocking chairs."

On the ground next to the door was a small stack of magazines and sketchbooks. Post its labeled pages and were covered from corner to corner with her scrawl. Each was filled with ideas and suggestions for the various furnishings the room was going to need. These furnishings included but were in no way limited to the following: toy chest, dresser, changing table, rocking chair, and cradle. If she had any say in the matter, which she did whether the new parents were aware of it or not, this child was going to be spoiled rotten.

"Curtains should be dark to block out sun during afternoon naps. Under no circumstances should shades be used in place of curtains."

Glancing down at her cell phone, she realized that the time had simply flown by and she only had a few more minutes left before she had to leave. The train station that was going to get her home was several blocks away. She still needed to shower, dress, and high tail it to the restaurant where she was going to meet her husband of three years for their anniversary. Plus she figured it was probably be in poor taste if half of the pair was late while the other half was nervously waiting alone in a nice restaurant. Sena, bless his soul, still didn't react well to being under public observation. And nothing says stare-and-gossip-at-me like sitting alone in a place that required reservations weeks in advance glancing at a watch every ten seconds.

"Suzuna-chan? Isn't it almost time for you to go?"

Spinning around, she smiled brightly at her long time friend. "Just getting ready to head out the door. I wanted to at least get an idea for colors before I left."

"Well, I did have some ideas about that." Mamori stepped next to her and glanced around the room. With one hand on her ever growing stomach, her other hand gestured to several of the walls. "I was thinking of having Musashi putting in a white wainscot on the walls. Then having rose and lavender strips for the area above it. Or maybe-"

"My son's not going to have a fucking pink and purple striped room." Even though he was out of sight and down the hall, Hiruma Youichi's voice still managed to cut out all sound and stop the conversation dead.

At least temporarily.

Eyes flashing dangerously his wife whipped her head around to shout at the empty hall. "It could be a girl!"

Silently, as to not draw attention to herself, Suzuna gathered her things and left the apartment. As much as she enjoyed watching them go at it, she really did have to get going. Not to mention if she let herself get caught in the middle then there was a very high probability of Sena sitting there alone until closing. But one thing was for certain, that discussion was far from over.


	41. Necessities of a Rainy Day

Chapter Forty One: Necessities of a Rainy Day

Disclaimer: I do not own Eyeshield 21.

Song Playing: various miscellaneous songs right now

Theme 13: Borrow

Mamori knew she should have stayed in bed this morning.

In an uncharacteristic moment of clumsiness she had walked straight into her dresser when she got out of bed. There had been no milk for her cereal; her toast had landed jelly side down on the kitchen floor before she even had the chance to take a bite. The report that she had spent the past week on was left on the counter and her mother was out on errands so she couldn't bring it for her. Finally as she was walking to the clubhouse under the safety of her umbrella, the rain had come suddenly- overpowering the hot sunny morning- she slipped.

Not one of those tiny little slips that you catch yourself right before anything could go too wrong. Oh, no. Her foot completely slid out from under her as she stepped onto a particularly muddy spot of the field. Her legs gave out from beneath her and she didn't even have time to brace herself as she fell hard on her bottom with a loud squish.

Not a thud but a squish.

The manager let out a small shudder as she felt the cold water and gritty mud seep through her skirt and shoes. Picking up her hand she grimaced as she tried shaking of the mud that clung to it.

She really should have stayed in bed.

Hiruma had been busy updating a few things and re-watching some video footage from their last game when he heard the door open. Looking up he was met with the strange sight of his manager, drenched, muddy, and looking like she wanted to hurt something. His eyes followed her form as she stomped to the other half of the room- her shoes making a wet squishing noise with every step- lighting a fire under a kettle of water.

She was rummaging though the cabinets for a mug and some tea bags when he spoke to her with one eyebrow raised. "What the hell happened to you?"

"Nothing." She managed to bite out through chattering teeth as the tea kettle started to whistle.

He popped his gum as his attention went back to his computer. "Nothing doesn't make you look like a drowned rat."

Mamori didn't bother to respond. Instead she shot back the darkest glare she could muster, considering her morning it was quite possibly the meanest look she had ever made. Then she focused her foul mood on the task of pouring the hot water into her cup and ducking the tea bag in it. With slightly shaking hands she raised the cup to her trembling lips and blew on it, attempting to cool it a bit.

There was a moment of silence.

"Take off your clothes."

She nearly dropped her hot cup in her shock. "What?"

He glanced back up at her with a raised eyebrow. "In the locker room. Take them off and put on something else. Something dry. No way in hell are you getting sick right before a game."

"Oh." She let out a relieved sigh. Putting her hot drink down she grabbed a towel from off the shelf.

He observed her a little closer. "What'd you think I was talking about?"

"N-nothing." She stammered out as she ducked into the locker room and slammed the door shut behind her. The click of the lock echoed in the small room.

Hiruma sounded all too amused as he shouted at the closed door. "Never pictured you having such a dirty mind, fucking manager! Guess you aren't as sweet and innocent as you want us to think!"

"Shut up!" There was a slight pause where nothing could be heard but the typing of keys and the loud plop soaked clothing made as they hit the tile. This was followed by the sound of a zipper being opened and the rustling of the her digging through her backpack on the other side of the door. He was still clicking away when she spoke up again. Although this time around she didn't sound angry, more uncertain. Uncertain and hesitant. "Hiruma-kun?

The quarterback didn't even bother to pause his activity. "Yeah?"

There was silence.

A really long silence. Which was unusual cause his manager never hesitated to speak her mind. It was her most useful and annoying quality.

He was considering repeating himself, eyes still on his laptop screen with no sign of looking up, when her voice filtered shyly through the wooden door that separated them.

"Can you pass me a spare set of practice clothes?" But he did stop what he was doing once he heard that. He could actually hear the embarrassment in her voice, could picture how red her face was as she went on to explain. "Mine are soaking, my spare uniform is at home, and I really don't trust you to get my gym clothes out of my locker."

A toothy smug smile was already forming on his face. Leaning back in his chair with his feet propped up on the table.

So many possibilities.

Hiruma didn't make a sound to indicate that he had even heard her request. His mind zipping from one idea to another. Get a tape recorder and have her repeat the obviously distressing plea for future cooperative insurance. Not respond at all and see what she does. Sneak out while she was still stuck in the locker room, break into her locker, and bring her gym clothes just to see how she would react. It was pretty fifty-fifty that she'd chew his ear off while attempting to bash his head in with whatever equipment she had on her and simply snatching the outfit out of his hands while she imploded in her own righteous fury. Of course there was also the option of actually doing what she wanted in the first place. It wasn't like it was any extra strain on his part.

"Hiruma-kun?" Meanwhile a very cold, mostly naked Mamori was still in the locker room feeling like the biggest idiot in the world for undressing without grabbing a practice uniform from the cabinet.

It was taking all the will power she had to prevent her teeth from chattering. Really, all she wanted was a hot drink and a big fluffy blanket straight from the dryer. However, given the circumstances, she'd settle for spare practice clothes and a cup of luke warm tea while she waited for her ride.

She was considering just biting the bullet, putting her soggy clothes back on, and grabbing the clothes herself when the quarterback's voice broke through her considerations. "What's the magic word?"

A shiver that had nothing to do with the weather outside and everything to do with the fact that he was toying with her made its way down her spine. There was no way this was actually happening to her. She strong, independent. She wasn't going to play whatever little mind game he was trying to coax her into. "Hiruma-kun..."

She was also utterly ashamed at how whiny her voice sounded to her own ears.

"What's the magic word?" He knew he had won this round. He not only knew it but he was exploiting it for his own sadistic pleasure. She was half convinced that he had a recording device to capture the exact moment she caved. And, really, if she were honest with herself it was only a matter of time. Freezing, embarrassment, and her generally polite nature were practically screaming at her to get it over with already. After all what was one little battle in the midst of the war? It was about priorities. Right now her priority was to be dry, warm, and not mostly naked.

Still, she had to fight the inevitably a little. If she didn't dig her heels in who would? Plus there was the off chance she might actually be able to pull off a surprise victory here. "Is this really neces-?"

"Dirty minded and rude." He actually had the nerve to sound like she had disappointed him somehow. "I always pegged you as a goody two shoes type. How disinheriting it is to learn otherwise." She wasn't completely convinced that he couldn't hear her grinding her teeth on the other side of the door. "I thought you were all for manners and curiously and crap."

It was a testament to her skills at multi-tasking that she was able to grind her teeth together even as they chattered away noisily. Taking a deep angry breath through her nose, she held it for a few moments before releasing a resigned sigh. "Please?"

She winced even as the word left her mouth.

For a second the only thing she heard was her teeth violently connecting with only another. But then she heard his sharp bark of laughter and it almost had her wishing that her chattering was a little louder so that his amusement would be drowned out. The sound of a chair scraping against the floor reached her ears, followed by the sound of cabinets being opened and closed. Then there was firm rap of his fist connecting with the door.

With a strange mix of reluctance and eagerness, she opened the door just enough to slid a bare arm though it.

Her hand hovered there in mid air. The thought that he had tricked her, that he didn't get the spare clothes and was actually just enjoying her grasping at nothing briefly, flickered through her mind. Then her trembling fingertips met something soft and deciding not wet. She could just picture his smug face when he said, "Now that wasn't so hard was it?"

Her response a flushed face he couldn't see and a slammed door that he could.

It wasn't until a few days later, when she was during laundry, that she stumbled on the fact that he hadn't just given her an extra set of practice clothes. He had given her his personal set of extra practice clothes. The one with his number on the back and everything.

She didn't quite know what to make of that.


	42. Tick Tock Biological Clock

Chapter Forty Two: Tick Tock Biological Clock

Disclaimer: I do not own Eyeshield 21.

We're Having A Baby Arc: 7/7

Song Playing: 99 Red Ballons

Theme 97: Writer's Choice

The sun rose at approximately 6:30 in the morning in Tokyo during the last few days of March and the first few of April and, with the exception of very few people who had jobs demanding them to be awake, no one should be up and functional before nature itself had waken from the peaceful lull of the night. This was the firm belief of a certain very tired, very peeved, very _pregnant_ young woman who found herself glaring at her bedside clock which clearly stated the time of 3: 17AM. Her glare was quickly transformed into a grimace by a sudden pain in her abdomen. Muttering a few choice words learned from her ill mouth husband, she closed her eyes and attempted to fall back asleep.

Only to be jolted back into awareness by a much sharper pain, which was quickly followed by another and then another until all she could do was attempt to remember the proper breathing exercises as she tried to wake up her still sleeping husband.

"Youichi..." She groaned slightly as she shook his shoulder. "Youichi." There was a rising urgency in the force of her hand on his shoulder and her voice as he buried himself a little deeper into the comfort of their bed. "Youichi if you don't wake up this minute I'm going to-argh!"

What she was planning on doing was forever lost as a particularly painful contraction hit her causing her to let go of his shoulder and lean her arm back to steady herself. Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on how you wanted to look at it, her palm landed on the tip of one of her husband's ear. So, when she gripped the sheets in an attempt to relive a bit of her own pain, she coincidently yanked on his ear. Effectively waking him up and putting him in an instant bad mood.

"What the hell?" The blond yelped as he shot up in his bed. His hand immediately went to his abused appendage. "What's the matter with you?"

She fixed him with the most withering glare that she had ever given to a single person. "What's the matter with me? What's the matter with you? I'm about to give _birth_ and all you can do is sleep!"

His eyes widened in such a way that she would have found comical at any other time but, as it stood, she was a little preoccupied at the moment with childbirth. The shock was short lived as his eyes quickly narrowed and his mind went into overdrive on what to do next.

"Dammit!" Decisively he threw back the covers and leapt out of bed. He quickly made his way to her side of the bed. Wrapping his arm around her back he carefully but hurriedly helped her to the doorway. There he left her momentarily to gather up the few things they needed. By this time he returned she had managed to put of a pair of slippers, the only kind of shoe she could get into with ease.

He haphazardly slid on some shoes as he leaned against the doorframe heavily for support, cursing as he whacked his elbow on a small table they used to keep their keys and loose change. "You couldn't go into labor during normal hours?"

"Oh well sorry for being such a-urgh inconvenience!" She snapped back as she struggled into her coat. "Next time I'll try to have the baby during normal business hours! How does lunch work for you? If you're busy I have a-augh a four o'clock slot!"

Hiruma had just finished putting on his own coat and turned to his still struggling wife. Placing his hands on her shoulders he helped her slid into the clothing with ease. Choosing to ignore that last comment, he grabbed the bag filled with what they needed for the trip to the hospital and his cell phone. Dialing in a few numbers in rapid session, he guided his grumbling wife into the elevator. Tapping his foot impatiently while he waited for someone to pick up on the other end. Six rings later (five to many if you asked him) somebody picked up. At least Mamori assumed someone answered because suddenly her husband was talking, more like demanding, for a taxi. Whatever the poor person on the other line said did nothing to sooth his rising temper. Before she could blink he had whipped out his infamous blackmail book and was asking for a name.

Mamori missed whatever her husband had on the man as she found herself sliding down the elevator wall to the floor. Her eyes shut on their own accord as she tried to concentrate on her breathing.

Only to have them fly open a moment later when she felt the firm grip of a certain blonde gently drag her back up onto her. "Don't sit down. I'm not having my kid being born in a dirty elevator where people could have done who knows what in it."

She managed to tune out the sound of his irritated rant in favor of trying not to just sit down and refuse to move. But whatever he told that taxi company must have worked because by the time they reached the ground floor of their apartment building and she managed to stumble through the front door there was a bright yellow cab waiting outside. Standing beside the cab was a very nervous looking and exhausted looking young man. He must have jumped right out of his bed and straight there because he was still dressed in his pajamas. That and he didn't appear to be wearing any socks, or shoes for that matter.

And, on a normal day, she would have yelled at her husband for scaring the poor disheveled boy out of his wits at nearly four in the morning. But, as it was, it was not a normal day. In fact, it was barely even a day. Right now they were in glorified night.

With that being said she allowed herself to be hustled into the awaiting car without so much as a half-hearted protest. She even let the unprompted curses directed to the obviously terrified man slid on by. But she could not, in good conscience, sit back and watch the quickly disappearing figure of the cabbie, as her husband sped off in his taxi, without saying something. "Youichi you can't just take-"

"I just did." He interrupted and it was just as well too as she found it harder to form words and breathe at the same time.

Her hand clutched the door handle as he took a sharp right. "For goodness sake slow _down_!"

"Not until we get to the hospital." He shifted gears as he glanced at her through the rearview mirror.

"Youichi! Car!"

"I see it!"

All in all it was not a good start to the day, and the sun wasn't even up yet.


	43. No Time To Say Good Bye, Hello

Chapter Forty Three: No Time To Say Good Bye, Hello

Disclaimer: I do not own Eyeshield 21.

We're Having A Baby Arc: 8/8

Song Playing: Your Mother And Mine

Theme 86: Alarm

"What do you mean it's a fucking false alarm?"

This was exclaimed in such a way that the question was not only heard by everyone in the room but everyone in the maternity ward and several people in the elevator. Plus the small gathering of immediate friends and family that were currently residing in the waiting room.

Needless to say Hiruma Youichi was less than pleased by this news.

However, despite his haggard appearance and pissed attitude, the doctor stood unflinching. It was a tribute to hours of interviews and weeks of searching on Mamori's part that she was able to find an unshakeable obstetrician. Similarly she had made such arrangements with all their health care providers (dentists, doctors, nurses, ect.) for her sake of mind more than anything. She had to know that no matter what her irate husband threatened them with they would follow through what was in the Hiruma family's best interest, medically speaking.

Thus, despite the fact that the father-to-be had the means and the inclination to make her life a living hell very quickly, the obstetrician spoke bluntly in a very comforting professional voice. "Mamori-san has experienced what is commonly referred to as false labor. She's not having the baby now. Her water is still intact, the baby is fine, and she'll be ready to go back home after you fill out some paperwork."

Disgruntled he had filled out the forms given to him. Then he had gone on to explain what was happening, or not happening, to the people camped out in the waiting room. The obstetrician had left him behind in favor of informing the mother-to-be what was happening.

Finally both parents -in-waiting headed back home. Exhausted and in no mood to deal with the shivering cabbie that was waiting in the lobby for his taxi to come back.

Over the course of the next few weeks she had several more of what Youichi had dubbed 'fucking false alarms'. Each one raised the hope that this would finally be the right time only to leave disappointment and more than a little frustration that no baby was arriving on that particular trip to the hospital. This left a very pregnant young lady wondering what she had done to deserve this kind of torture and one very frustrated young man wondering who he had to threaten to get the fucking real labor to start and this fake fucking bullshit labor to stop.

XxX

Hiruma Mamori really, really, _really_ wanted to not be pregnant anymore.

That is she still wanted to be a mother. She wasn't having second thoughts about having a baby or anything like that. It was just that she was tired of being pregnant all the time! She didn't want to have to deal with trying to find a comfortably sleeping position or having swollen feet or generally feeling like a bloated whale. Yes she understood that she wasn't actually fat. Of course the logical part of her brain knew this was all normal, that every expecting mother went through the phase she was going through.

But damn it all she wanted the baby out and she wanted it out now!

Still she recognized that there wasn't much she could do about that. The baby would come when the baby decided it was ready to come and no amount of building frustration was going to make it come any faster.

Therefore she let out a resigned sight and nestled herself a little deeper into the comfortable armchair that took up a good portion of the sitting room. The armchair was actually Youichi's and if he had even an inkling that she was sitting in it he probably would have had a fit. He had some sort of peculiar possessiveness to the chair, with good reason she discovered. It was extremely comfortable, warm, and overall very pleasant to sit in.

It was actually the only piece of furniture she could sit on that successfully eased her aching back and wasn't a bitch to get out of when she wanted to get back up.

It was definitely a lazy self indulgent sort of day. She had already spent a good portion of the morning laminating over the fact that she still couldn't see her feet. Then she had a light lunch which was followed by some complaining to herself about how tired she was but she was so sore that getting a nap in was out of the question. Which lead her to sitting in that particular chair where she was contemplating if it would be worth the effort to get up and retrieve the book she had been reading. Then something extraordinary happened.

Her water broke.

It took her a moment to realize it had happened at all. And when her brain had finally processed what had happened her first thought were both un-lady like and completely un-maternal. It was that Youichi was going to be pissed when he found out her water broke on his personal armchair.

Looking at the dark stain that clearly showed where she had been sitting only seconds ago, she briefly contemplated whether she should bother trying to clean it up before going to the hospital. Then the realization of what her water breaking fully meant hit her and she decided that he'd just have to deal with it. So she walked back tot heir bedroom to change into a clean not wet maternity dress. Then she headed into the kitchen where she started to reach for the phone.

Her hand stopped just before her fingers touched the receiver.

Thinking over the past false alarms, the tired look upon her friends faces, the fact that she knew several of them had important things planned for the day she withdrew her hand from the receiver. With a determined nod of her head she began writing a note. Quickly she glanced at the clock, scribbled down the time, and pinned the note to the fridge. This was followed by her waddling to the entryway where she struggled for a bit putting her shoes on before she grabbed her coat and the labor bag next to the door. Finally she checked to make sure she had her keys and her cell in her pocket before heading out the door.

As always she made sure the apartment was locked before heading down the hall.

XxX

Hiruma Youichi had gotten off work early for a change. Actually, he hadn't gotten off early per say. What he had gotten was fed up working with idiots for the day so he decided going home where he would get actual work done with the added bonus of seeing the surprised look on his very pregnant wife's face. And, since he was Hiruma Youichi, nobody protested as he stormed out of the building. Most opted to dive under their desks and behind the potted plants. The rest chose to remain very still as too avoid catching his attention.

Thus he arrived home at a quarter to four feeling better and ready to make a few teasing comments that would have Mamori turning beet red in a fascinating combination of embarrassed indignation. She was easy to fluster even before the baby. Now that she was pregnant it was like shooting fish in a barrel but with the pleasant surprise of far more creative comebacks. He let loose a toothy grin as he unlocked the apartment door.

Which promptly fell into a confused frown as he entered his home and realized nobody was home.

It didn't take long to deduce this. He couldn't smell the beginnings of dinner or the remains of lunch. There were no sounds of her bustling around their small flat. Most importantly her shoes weren't in the hall entry way and her coat was missing.

This all made him immediately suspicious. As she didn't like to venture out of the home now that the due date was so close and he hadn't gotten any calls telling him she was going out with anyone. Not bothering with his shoes he strode inside and immediately began check the other rooms (there were three: the bedroom, the nursery, and the bathroom) before returning back to the entry.

Then he glanced into the kitchen. His eyes drawn to the yellow memo note that was on the fridge that hadn't been there when he had left that morning. With five long strides he was ripping the note off the fridge, causing the magnet that was holding it off to fling off and skid into a forgotten corner several feet away. His tight grip crumpled the paper slightly at the edges as quickly scanned through the note. It was neatly written in the precise delicate handwriting of his wife and looked entirely composed and not at all panicked. As if she were writing down the weeks groceries or a reminder that her dentist appointment had been changed.

_Water broke. Went to the hospital, don't think I'll be back in time for dinner_

_-Mamori _

_3:17pm_

The stunned silence filled the room. Sharp eyes narrowed in anger and complete disbelief as they read, then re-read the simple note that was in his hand.

"Fuck!"

The sound of the door being slammed shut resounded throughout the apartment and was only drowned out by the heavy thumps of loudly retreating footsteps accompanied by equally loud retreating curses.


	44. Intertwined Fingers As A Lifeline

Chapter Forty Four: Intertwined Fingers As A Lifeline

Disclaimer: I do not own Eyeshield 21.

Song Playing: Johnny America

We're Having A Baby Arc: 9/9

Theme 27: Reverse

Mamori was fairly certain that she was the one who was pregnant.

After all she was the only one of the two with the physical capability to actually give birth to the baby. Not to mention she was the one who had slowly lost sight of her feet as the months progressed. Plus she was the one that the doctor had congratulated with the announcement. Still, she spared a glance up at her over zealous husband who was saying something about inconsiderate wives, with the way he had been acting over the course of the pregnancy she was seriously beginning to doubt the factuality behind her previous thought.

Because even though she was the one who had her head in the toilet on more than one occasion he was the one that looked more than a little green around the edges. Then the mood swings that all the married men she had ever known dreaded never seemed to apply to her, only snapping a few times after too little sleep. They did; however, seem to apply to her husband who would go from curses to silent calculation to borderline manic laughter with only seconds between.

And, while she did admit the sudden craving for creampuffs stuffed with preserved peaches and sprinkled with cinnamon was just a bit unusual. It was nothing compared to the blonde's sudden need to replace his sugar free gum with bits of dark chocolate.

Now, looking down at their intertwined hands: as she tried desperately to ride out the pain that came with giving birth. She couldn't help but notice that while she was the one with a living breathing baby coming out of her body and the one that was trying to grab onto the sheets as another contraction made itself known, he was the one who wouldn't let go.


	45. When Insides Don't Match Outsides

Chapter Forty Five: When Insides Don't Match Outsides

Disclaimer: I do not own Eyeshield 21.

Song Playing: Popular (from Wicked)

Theme 6: Hot

For Suzuna the results of the Quarterback Female Popularity Poll that was printed in the last issue of American Football Monthly were completely unacceptable. Harao of the Sphinx dominated most of the competition, but really that wasn't too much of a surprise considering his following. A close second was Marco of the Dinosaurs, now that one did surprise her as she personally found him really creepy. Everyone else sort of fell behind in various degrees of being well liked among the female students.

However what caused her anger was the Deimon Quarterback's placement in the poll. To be more accurate his _lack_ of placement in the poll. To be more precise, he wasn't ranked. At all.

Next to his name had been a little astrick indicating that the reader should look at the bottom of the page in the footnotes for further explanation. She had. The explanation being and she quoted, 'N/A All the girls ran away when his name was mentioned'. This, she felt, was unacceptable.

As the unofficial head of publicity and captain of the cheer squad, she felt that it was her duty to rectify the situation. So she set about calling an emergency publicity meeting that required a female representative of every year, social class, club, sport, and clique to attend. It had taken longer than she had wanted but it had been arranged. Only once everyone was seated did she get down to business.

"Why did you all run away?"

She always did prefer the straight forward means of communication.

Not bothering to let them answer, she held up the magazine that was already open to the page with the poll for them all to see. "This poll was to determine the female popularity of each quarterback at their respective schools. We're not even on in because apparently every girl this guy tried to interview ran away screaming into the distance at the mention of Hiurma-kun's name."

Her sharp eyes didn't miss the way every girl in the room winced and looked at the exits at the mere mention of _his_ name.

"I'm not going to try to act all noble and righteous by saying the popularity polls were based on personality. How the girls fawning over the quarterbacks were solely due to how sweet or how nice the guy is. Because we all know that's not true." At this point she slammed the magazine down on the podium top. "The quarterback popularity was directly related to how hot the quarterback is. That's it. No if, ands, or buts about it. That is a fact. No arguments there."

At this she got some mumbled agreements.

"So why," She threw her arms into the air in utter bafflement. "Wouldn't Hiruma-kun be ranked into the top five at least? We all know he's completely hot!"

Silence engulfed the room.

Suzuna suddenly felt very awkward. Putting her arms down so they rested on the podium, she leaned in a little to the nervous looking crowd. He voice much softer than it had been previously. "We all do know he's completely hot... right?"

Nothing but uncomfortable shifting answered her.

The realization of what that silence meant hit her like a tons of bricks. Quite literally. The only thing that prevented her from falling over in shock was the white knuckled grip she had on the podium. "Seriously?"

"He's scary!"

A singular girl blurted out. No sooner had the words left her mouth than her hands had flown to cover it, as if to prevent more words from escaping without her consent. Her eyes were wide in terror and Suzuna was slightly concerned that the poor girl was going to give herself whiplash the way she was scanning the room for danger. As if the devil himself was going to appear to smite her.

Which, given Hiruma-kun's impeccable timing and better than average hearing, wasn't entirely an unfounded fear to have.

However, those two words spoken in unfiltered terror filled honesty, seemed to be the trigger to get every girl in the room talking. And boy did they have things to say. Mostly things concerning his black book and the way he plagued their nightmares and how he could be there listening right now they had to leave! Where were the exits? They were too young to have it end like this! It was quite an overwhelming experience.

"Okay- I- No-Well." Finally Suzuna took a deep breath and bellowed. "QUIET!"

The girls, who were several comments and a mention of his name from being a panicked mob, silenced immediately.

"Sit!"

They sat.

"Good." Suzuna ran a hand through her short hair. "Now I understand that you all seem to have... reservations about being able to see Hiruma-kun as anything but a tyrannical demon. But surely we can all be mature about this. Look at this objectively. He is human and he is hot. Surely we can agree on that much?"

The looks on their faces clearly indicated that they could not agree on that much.

"This is going to be harder than I thought." The head cheerleader grumbled to herself before clapping her hands together. "Okay! I need you all to close your eyes."

They all appeared very reluctant to do so.

"I said close your eyes!" They shut. This is not the way she had planned this meeting to go but desperate times called for desperate measures. "Now take a few deep breaths. Everyone relaxed? Good. Now I need to focus. Focus real hard. Now picture Hiruma-kun."

If it wasn't so freaking frustrating, she might have found it amusing how all their peaceful faces had turned to horror. Several seemed to be ready to bolt at a moment's notice. "Stay calm! Deep breaths. Keep picturing him only now imagine away any firearms he has on him. Go on, just will them away." She waited until their faces seemed to relax a little. "Good. Good. Now just put him on mute. Put him on mute and close his mouth. Very nice, keep those deep breaths coming ladies."

They were the calmest looking they had ever looked since she mentioned his name.

It was time for the piece de resistance. "Finally take away that black book. Just make it disappear and pretend, just for a moment, that he didn't know your deepest darkest secrets and was blackmailing you with them. Just for a moment I want you all to picture Hiruma-kun like that. No weapons, no book, no talking. Just a boy smirking at you with that intense look in his eyes and a toothy smug smirk."

The shocked gasps and sharp inhales of breathe let Suzuna know the exact moment that they all managed to picture it.

Of course the singular exclamation of, "Ohmygod he _is _hot!" didn't hurt either.

And just like that the female population of Deimon High School saw Hiruma Youichi not as the heartless sociopathic monster, an image he had spent years developing, but as an incredibly hot _single_ young man who had the possibility to soften if a certain someone managed to capture his heart. Thus, from her safe position behind the podium, Suzuna watched with uncontainable amusement how quickly she had fixed the problem. Now all she had to do was call that interviewer to schedule a trip over so that the real results of their quarterback could be published.

Though, upon hearing some rather elaborate plans for the official Devil of Deimon Fan Club, the young girl couldn't but feel that maybe she had made a mistake informing them of his hotness. She was sure that Hiruma-kun was not going to be pleased when he found out just who was responsible for the assassination of his evil dictator image. Then there was Mamori who now had competition for his affections.

Of course she would deny that there was no competition because she wasn't interested in him in that way. At all. Ever. They could have him and she'd be perfectly happy that they were together. However Suzuna knew that deep, deep, _deep_ down inside Mamori's heart there was this almost microscopic part that liked him more than a quasi-friend. And by revealing Hiruma's apparently hidden hotness there would be significantly less time for that tiny seed of affection to blossom into the rose of love it was destined to be. Scratching the back of her head, she couldn't help but feel that maybe she had jumped the gun on this one.

Just a little.

Suzuna pondered if she should call Mamori and apologize for this after she got a hold of American Football Monthly.


	46. The Order Of Things

Chapter Forty Six: The Order of Things

Disclaimer: I do not own Eyeshield 21.

Song Playing: The Bird and The Worm- the used

Theme 9: Cheat

It wasn't very often but every once in a while Youichi Hiruma failed to recognize the warning signs of a situation that was rapidly spiraling out of control.

In fact it was less of a not-very-often and more of an it-had-never-happened-before.

Ever.

Therefore when the day came that he did, somehow manage to be completely and utterly oblivious to any and all signals that were predicting an inevitable collapse of the new and therefore fragile relationship with his until recently football manager, he was completely blind-sided with no basis for damage control possibilities. He hadn't realized it at the time but their current conversation was the beginning of something very, very bad.

Wide slightly startled eyes blinked at him. "What did you say?"

"I said if you were still planning to visit your grandma in the summer you should get your plane tickets now." He looked up at the feeling of her burning holes in the back of his head with her glare. It wasn't an unusual circumstance, just unexpected for the moment. She normally only gave him that look when she felt he had done something wrong and as far as he knew he hadn't said anything she should have disapproved of. "What?"

She looked extremely suspicious. "How could you possibly know that? I've never said anything to you about it before."

"You go every summer." He really didn't see what the big deal was. He was offering a piece of friendly advice. Trying to get her cheaper tickets so she wouldn't be worrying about it later. He was being a good boyfriend and she was staring at him like he had done something wrong.

Her eyes narrowed. "_I_ know I go every summer. What I want to know is how _you_ know I go every summer."

"The usual way." He kept eye contact with her, though on the inside he was starting to feel defensive; like he should start preparing himself for a fight. Which was ridiculous. There was nothing to fight about. And yet...

She was tense. Probably for no reason, she had to admit to herself. She was over-reacting, something she did more than she cared to admit. It was one of her less endearing qualities. He had probably heard about it from her mother. They were close in a way that almost made her uncomfortable. Still she couldn't stop her hands from clenching. "What do you mean the usual way?"

He gave her a you've-got-to-be-joking-me look.

When she continued to be unrelenting with her stare and her knuckles were practically bone white from lack of blood flow, he sighed. Producing a familiar book from the depths of his pockets he felt their conversation take a horrible nose diving turn for the worse. His muscles braced themselves for what was he was anticipating was going to be an explosive response.

He wasn't wrong.

The realization that he had someone look into her personal history had her bristling. "You can't just go around looking up things about me!"

"I don't." It was only because she knew him so well that she saw he was slightly insulted that she had insinuated such a thing. She was almost going to apologize, give him the benefit of the doubt. After all it was entirely possible that he had heard it from her mother. Her mother did like him and their favorite thing to talk about when they were left alone was her. But then he had to go and open his big fat stupid mouth and flash that damned book again. It was almost like he was trying to get her angry. "They were already on file; I just had to review them."

Her jaw dropped. "That's even worse!"

"What the hell is wrong with you this morning?" He tucked the black book back into the confines of his pocket.

It really was the worst possible thing he could have said at that moment.

She blinked large blue eyes in complete disbelief. Her cheeks were flushing in righteous anger. "What's wrong with me? What's wrong with me? What's wrong with me is that my boyfriend has no respect for my private life."

Now he really was insulted. He had plenty of respect for her, more respect than he had for most. "You knew about the book before we started dating. You knew you were in it, even if I didn't tell you- you knew. But I never threatened you with it like I did everyone else. Did you notice that? Fuck! I respect you more than I do anyone else."

She didn't hear a word he said. "What else does it say about me in that book of yours?"

"Basic information." Her glare was absolutely piercing. "You broke your arm when you were eight trying to steal an orange from your neighbor's tree. You cried when you got an eighty nine on a math test in middle school. Up until you started high school you-"

"That's cheating!" Inwardly she had winced as soon as the words left her mouth. It sounded so childish when she said it like that. This time she tried a more mature way to express her distress. "You're supposed to ask me about this kind of stuff. We're supposed to learn these kinds of things about each other. You're not supposed to go around collecting information about me when I'm dating you- you- jerk!"

She was never her most mature around Hiruma.

He was just getting ready to throw out some of his own insults when she turned on her heel and headed for the door. He followed quickly behind her. "Where do you think you're going?"

"Home." She bit out, not bothering to turn around.

This was absolutely insane. He was dating a crazy woman. "You're being ridic-"

"Don't talk to me!" She yelled over her shoulder. Throwing the door open she continued her furious pace across the football field. When she continued to hear the familiar footfalls of his steps she added, "And don't follow me!"

As he watched her go he tried to calm down the bad feeling he was developing in his heart and his gut. This was just another fight. She'd cool down. She'd call him later and they'd sort this out. Really, this was too ridiculous to last for long.

She was never able to hold a grudge this long before.

He wasn't showing it but this was really starting to freak him out. The forced politeness out of her when she was forced to interact with him due to team duties and the withering look she gave him when she didn't have to be polite. Then there were the sad little looks she'd get when she thought he wasn't looking. Plus he found himself starting to miss the little things. Like how she made lunch for them or how he walked with her to her place when they were out late even though he lived on the other side of the university. It was enough to distract him in their last game for him to completely miss catching the snap back at the start of play.

By the time another game rolled around he knew he couldn't take it anymore. He was focused and calculating but not enough to ignore this for a whole game again. If he didn't resolve this they were going to lose. There was no way for him to completely block out the churning feeling he got in his stomach every time she looked at him like she was disappointed. It was absolutely nauseating.

And she wasn't showing any signs of letting up either. If this thing between them was ever going to be resolved he would have to do something about it. He was going to have to be the one to take the first step.

He managed to get her alone just before they were due to storm the field. Everyone else was outside getting ready to run onto the field and that left them with a few minutes of privacy in the locker room. He tried to make himself look as non-threatening as possible, a difficult feat since he spent most of his time trying to do the exact opposite.

"I get it now."

He watched her with a critical eye as her posture relaxed and she looked up at him with less anger and more hope. "You do?"

"Yeah." He felt that constriction around his heart loosen. He gave her a smile that showed all his teeth, his hand finding its way to the small of her back. Gently he began guiding her to the exit that would lead them out to the field. "Now hurry it up we got a game to win then I'll take you out to dinner."

There was a moment where she allowed him to guide her. One brief moment of happiness. That he had understood but then she caught a glimpse of his eyes and the moment ended.

He was playing her and her heart dropped.

She stopped, just before they reached the door. "...No."

He looked down at her. "What?"

"No, you don't get it." She spoke slowly, as if she was hand choosing each word before she said them. "I can see it."

"Of course I do. I just told you I did, didn't I?"

She shoved his arm off her shoulder, turning her body to face him fully. "No you don't and you're lying about it. You expect me to just believe you and go on like we're okay when we're not okay. If you can't see why I'm so upset and have to lie about understanding then I'm sorry. I can't do this."

Her voice had trembled at the end but she had held her ground. Now, for the first time in his extensive memory, she was walking away from him. She was _leaving_ him.

"Hey!"

Despite the way his voice ricocheted off the walls, he kept her steady pace towards the exit.

"Fucking manager!"

He felt something deep in his gut that he hadn't felt in a long time. It was a panicking feeling that he couldn't shake off, like if he didn't stop her now it'd be too late. Which was ridiculous because this was just a stupid fight. They had hundreds of them over their association with each other. They'd get through this one.

Right?

"Mamori!"

She walked out the door.


	47. Try Honesty

Chapter Forty Seven: Try Honesty

Disclaimer: I do not own Eyeshield 21.

Song Playing: Diary of Jane

Note: Coninuation of 'The Order of Things'

Theme 18: True

If she didn't want to talk to him well then fine. Good riddance even. That was just fine and dandy with him; he didn't want to talk with her anyway. He hadn't done anything wrong. She was the one over-reacting. This time around it was her turn to apologize to him. No way was he going to be putting himself out there just so she could walk out on him. Again. Maybe, if he was feeling generous, he might actually accept her apology after some serious groveling and explaining.

Maybe.

And if she never apologized well to hell with her. He had been doing fine on his own way before she had come into his life. He'd been fine ever since she left him looking like an idiot in the locker room. In short he was fine. Everything was fine.

When the door opened into the room that was reserved solely for the viewing of past footage, he had glanced up out of curiosity. It was Friday afternoon and most players bolted as soon as practice was over. There shouldn't have been anyone who was willing to come in to watch footage with him. Especially since it was him they would have to be watching footage with. Thus it was only do his instinctual reaction of going into his default poker face look that he was able to not show how surprised he was to see his manager and girlfriend closing the door quietly behind her.

She was acting particularly nervous with the fiddling of the hem of her shirt but she deemed determined enough when she looked him straight in the eye as she asked, "Can we talk?"

He considered her for a second. Then, he did something he had never done before. He turned off the television even though he was watching footage from a game. He closed his laptop. He even went so far as to silence his cell phone.

He wanted to hear what she had to say without interruption.

It was... daunting to say the least. To have his undivided attention like this. Unless it was during a game, a person communicating with Hiruma got less then five percent of his full focus at any given time. If one was lucky, or unlucky depending on what warranted it, they would get a full uncut ten percent of his attention without distraction. Never more than ten.

Still she had been avoiding him for far too long. If she didn't do something soon she was afraid she'd no longer be fucking manager like he affectionately called her. Instead she might be known as his fucking ex-girlfriend. An endearment that would be anything but endearing. So she sucked it up and went into bite the bullet.

Which would be a much easier task if he wasn't looking at her so intensely.

Taking a seat she opened her mouth. Ready to start in on the carefully planned speech she had spent the last several days practicing and changing and going over so that she could convey what she was feeling in the simplest most straight forward way possible. Only none of the well rehearsed lines that she had agonized over would come out. Instead out tumbled a whole lot of things she hadn't planned on saying. "Did you know that I haven't eaten an orange since I broke my arm?"

He couldn't say he had.

"Or that I hid that test for three whole days after getting it back before my mother found it?"

The teacher he had gotten the information from originally hadn't mentioned it.

"Sometimes-" She seemed to be struggling for words at this point. This was a whole lot harder than she though it was going to be. "Sometime it's not just about the facts. Sometimes it's about the trust that you have in another person. It's less that you know things about me and more of the things I want you to know about me. Does that make sense?"

It didn't, and he told her so.

Now she was visibly frustrated. Though she was trying very hard not to show it, though she was failing miserably. "When we started dating I knew that you probably already knew things about me that I didn't want you to know. So I admit I over-reacted when you were just answering me honestly.

"But I had hoped that I could be the one to tell you that kind of stuff. That we could go out and I would feel comfortable enough with you that I could tell you those kinds of things. Because I haven't told those things you just got off the streets to anybody. I want us to be close enough that I can tell you those kinds of stories without feeling like you're going to laugh at me or use it against me later.

"I know we're not like most couples but I thought we could at least be like normal couples like that. Where we talk and learn about each other from each other and not from other people. So it upset me to have to face that you had completely skipped that part of our relationship." She was on a roll now and there was no stopping her. Even if he wanted to. "It seemed like you knew all this stuff about me but I didn't know anything about you. Then you were apologizing and I thought you understood why I was so mad but you didn't. And then I couldn't be in the same room as you anymore. I had to leave. And I am sorry that I walked away like I did. I feel really bad about it and I hope you can forgive me for that."

Now she broke eye contact to stare resolutely at the wall just behind his head. She had said her piece. All that was left was the waiting for his response. A response that was taking a while to come, his silence and lack of acknowledgement that she had even spoken was making her extremely nervous.

So much so that she nearly jumped out of her skin when he did finally speak.

"Have you had dinner yet?"

The question caught her off guard. "I-what?"

"Have you had dinner yet?"

The rumbling feeling in her stomach reminded her she hadn't had anything since lunch, which was hours ago. She blinked. "No. I came straight here after my classes and haven't had a chance to go home."

He seemed like he wasn't going to say anything else. Then he was on his feet, pack slung over his should. "Grab your stuff."

She was just getting ready to protest. What was he talking about? Where were they going? What did dinner have to do with anything? However, something clicked into place right before she could voice her confusion. He was accepting her apologizing in his own way. It was subtle but it was there. He was sorry he hadn't understood before. This was his way of making amends without actually saying so.

More importantly he seemed to miss her. Maybe as much as she had missed him.

He had forgiven her. And he was sorry.

She smiled. "That would be nice."

It was enough.


	48. Getting Wires Crossed

Chapter Forty Eight: Getting Wires Crossed

Disclaimer: I do not own Eyeshield 21.

Song Playing: Two By Two- book of mormon

Theme 67: Confused

"So..." Small talk was not something that Doburoku excelled at but the silcence was just too much for him to bear for a moment longer. Musashi was sitting all serious at the table reading the day's mews paper and the Anezaki girl was tidying up the shelves. It was after hours so everyone else had gone home. Hiruma would be back from his convenience store run any time now but he couldn't wait that long for someone to say something. "I couldn't help but notice that you and Hiruma left together before practice was over yesterday."

Said manager gave him a careful look. From over her shoulder. If this conversation was going were she thought it was going she didn't want to hear it. Still she had to give him the benefit of the doubt. "We had some errands to run for preparations for the next game."

"Is that what they're calling it now a days?" Doburoku leaned a little heavier onto his push broom, expression thoughtful. "Back in my day we just called it going on a date."

She shouldn't have given them that benefit. She had heard him say similar things throughout the small time he had arrived. It aggravated and horrified her to no end that he saw them that way.

A high pitched contained screech hurt his ears as he watched her storm away. Presumably to do something productive, though he had a deep rooted suspicion that she just didn't want to talk to him anymore.

The door slammed shut behind her.

In the corner the kicker turned a page. His eyes never leaving the small newsprint. "They're not dating but they still have the potential to start."

The dusty rusted wheels Doburoku's head started creaking. "So they're both in complete denial?"

Musashi shook his head ever so slightly. "No. It's a one-sided love."

Suddenly the coach felt a pain start in his gut. This, he was seventy five percent sure, was guilt and not the later stages of alcohol poisoning. "The poor girl. Is that why she gets so angry when I mention them? She can't-"

At this the designated kicker let out a low chuckle. "Oh no. Anezaki is completely oblivious to him."

"What?" Musashi was lucky that the quarterback had confiscated his jug until the working day was done or the young old man would have found him on the wrong end of a rather large spit-take. As it was the new coach nearly sprawled to the floor when the shock of the statement caused him to jerk violently, losing his balance that rested heavily on the push broom. Doburoku knew he was getting up there in his years but he didn't think he was old enough to be losing his hearing. But maybe his body was older that he liked to admit if his hearing was this bad. "Are you- do you mean-? Surely not-"

"Hmmm?" The high schooler calmly flipped through the sports section.

Doburoku composed himself as best as he could. "What did you say?"

Musashi took this as a sign that this was going to take some explaining. Carefully he folded the newspaper. Focusing more of his attention on the conversation. "Anezaki isn't interested in that way."

"That means-" Doburoku paled considerably as the realization came to him.

Musashi nodded solemnly. "Hiruma's the one holding back."

"No."

"Yes."

Well, there was no arguing with that. If there was one thing you could count on Musashi for it was his reliability. If he was saying that their quarterback was head over heels with a girl who was horrified to even be associated with him in that way then that's what was happening. Wonders apparently never ceased. The coach glanced sympathetically to the still closed door. "But shouldn't someone tell her-"

"Over your dead fucking body."

Doburoku clutched his heart.

He didn't need to turn around to know who was standing right behind him. In fact, he really didn't want to turn around. He had the strong suspicion that if he did see the expression that went with the tone of voice he had just heard he would just drop dead. So he opted for letting his push broom clatter to the ground, his eyes darting about the room in fright.

"Would you look at the time I have to-"

He was out the door before he could even finish his poorly constructed excuse.

"Fucking lush idiot." Hiruma pulled up a chair next to his much older looking friend. "There's not even a clock in here."

There was more silence.

Subtly piercing blue eyes slide to the side to stare menacingly at the serious looking kicker. His tone much calmer and more deadly than it had been previously. "Same going for you old man. Not a fucking word."

Musashi just shrugged his shoulders and went back to reading.


	49. Isn't It Romance?

Chapter Forty Nine: Isn't It Romance?

Disclaimer: I do not own Eyeshield 21.

Song Playing: Moonlight Becomes You

Theme 98: Writer's Choice- Romance

It had been a small practically insignificant moment that neither of them probably even remembered. The weather had been freezing. Quite literally. Since ice slicked streets were not conductive to safe trips home via roller skates, she had been forced to trek to her house the old fashioned way.

It was cold miserable work and she had been trying to cut down the amount of time she spent outside be making her way via the main road as opposed to the more scenic route she usually preferred. She had been a half a block away when she saw them so she couldn't hear what they were saying but she had immediately recognized the two familiar figures exiting the coffee shop.

Now it wasn't unheard of to see Mamori nee-chan and Boss Hiruma together. Even if it was in a public setting. So she had been getting ready to give them a shout out when she witnessed something that caught her greeting in her throat.

They appeared to be in their usual state of comfortable confrontation. She looked like she was giving him a piece of her mind while he was giving her toothy smirk while talking on his cell phone. Her sleeves were tangled and she was struggling desperately to shrug her coat on with no luck.

Then his smirk became noticeably less smug. It fact it looked almost happy as he closed the phone in his hand with a snap. One hand depositing it into his pocket as the other reached up and aided her in her struggle. Carefully he held her heavy coat up by the collar, guiding her arms into the sleeves. As she secured the buttons he pulled down her hat even further down her face to cover her eyes.

She flailed for a moment before righting herself. Her head snapped up, an angry remark surely residing on the tip of her tongue; when he bent down to press his mouth against hers. When he pulled back any ill feelings she had towards him were wiped clean off her face. A small smile took up home in its place.

If that wasn't shocking enough he then proceeded to tuck her into his side, making sure that he was closest to the street, and began leading them down the sidewalk. She scooted a little closer and did nothing to discourage the direction he was taking them. Like this was an everyday occurrence.

By now she was slowly losing the feeling in her fingers. People were giving her strange looks at the same time they were giving her a wide berth. Yet none of that seemed to catch her notice. Her feet were rooted to the spot and, even though they were long since out of her sight, she felt that if she so much as breathed wrong the moment she had just witnessed would be ruined.

It was the single most romantic thing that Suzuna had ever seen.


	50. The World Says Hello

Chapter Fifty: The World Says Hello

Disclaimer: I do not own Eyeshield 21.

We're Having A Baby Arc: 10/10

Song Playing: Rich Girl- fritz and the tantrums

Theme 29: Arrival

He hadn't thought anything would be more disturbing looking about his kid than the ultrasound pictures. For all the cooing his wife had been doing, he honestly couldn't even recognize the mass on the picture as human. The thing that the doctor claimed was his baby could be a dog or a chicken or an alien for the lack of detail and limbs. It had both disgusted and fascinated him.

However the actual process of giving birth to the thing that had been living in his wife the last nine months was almost more than he could handle. Sure he had read about what was going to happen and they had watched a few videos together to better prepare themselves. Foolishly he had though himself ready for the event of his first born arriving into the world. Very quickly he had learned how completely unprepared he truly was. There was this- this thing actually coming out of his wife: in places he personally thought no living being had a right to be coming out of but that was nature for you. Health classes had informed him this would happen but actually seeing it happen to someone he had promised to love for better or worse was a whole other can of worms of emotions.

Then they had held up the kid, a boy he could plainly see.

His kid, in all his blessed little newborn soul, was unpleasant to look at. There was... stuff attached to him. Slimy uncomfortable looking stuff. He was also kind of curled in on himself and what little hair he had was all matted and sticky looking. Plus there was the umbilical cord that was still attached making it look like his kid was growing off a vine like a piece of fruit. The head was also awkwardly shaped from the rough landing into the outside world. Not to mention his skin was all peely.

Overall his first impression was that his kid was freaking him out.

Not the best most proud to be a daddy thing to think but there you go.

He was more acceptable looking once they got him all cleaned up. Carefully bundled in a blue blanket they had placed him in the arms of the woman who had given him life. Hovering over the both of them, he took in the sight of his son now that he wasn't all covered with after birth and other things that made him die a little death to think of. Over all he looked basically the same. His head was still weird looking and he looked like he was peeling but-

-but he was just so _tiny. _He just couldn't get over it.

Never before had he ever felt so big and awkward. His thumb was bigger than one of his kid's fists. He'd thrown footballs that looked bigger than him. Plus he was so quiet. Were babies supposed to be so quite after all that? He made little noises but they were so low he could barely hear them, despite the fact he was so close he could feel his wife's body heat through the thin hospital gown.

Stands of hair clung to her sweaty face as she peered down at the bundle in her arms with a sense of awe. "Isn't he beautiful?"

He wasn't sure he'd go that far. But she had gone through what looked like a very painful process to get the kid out so her outlook on the boy was entitled to be a little skewed. He on the other hand wasn't biased with having had the kid inside him the last nine months. So far his kid was a tiny ball of wrinkle red mess that was trying to snuggle deeper into the arms of his mother. He wouldn't go so far as to say that he was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen but he was theirs.

And that was what warmed his heart to the point of bursting with pride.


	51. Constant Worldwide Vigilance

Chapter Fifty One: Constant Worldwide Vigilance

Disclaimer: I do not own Eyeshield 21.

Holiday Helping Hand Arc: 1/2

Song Playing: Songs from Animaniacs, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and funny clips from Yu Yu Hakusho. Basically youtube.

Theme 79: Winter

Her breaths hovered mockingly for a few moments just under her nose only to disappear into the cold winter air. Soon it was replaced with another could and the cycle continued as she continued making her way down the mostly empty sidewalk.

"Ms. Anezaki?"

Stopping, she looked behind her then down. There was a small man standing behind her. Midget- her mind supplied: his limbs were proportional to the rest of him. She wracked her brain for where she might have seen him before but was completely drawing a blank. He didn't look familiar at all. "Uh- yes. Yes that's me."

He seemed to be giving her a once over. As if he wasn't quite sure she was the right Anezaki.

As polietely as she could, she shifted her weight from one foot to the other. It was a rather useless attempt to generate some heat. She also took this time to observe him further. There wasn't much she could tell. He was an average looking guy with an unaverage height. He was dressed nicely in a suite but had an outrageous holiday tie. He was also obviously a foreigner: from where she wasn't entirely sure but he was definately from somewhere else.

However she was beginning to lose the feeling in her toes. Not to mention she was pretty sure her carton of milk was starting to freeze into a disgusting slush. "Is there something I can help you with?"

"Can you give a message to Mr. Hiruma?"

Well, this certainly was new occurance. Most of the time people were requesting that she get him to leave them alone. Nothing much she could do but go along with it and see where he went with this. "Sure."

"A blizzard blew out all lines of communication but we have managed to get the back up generators up and we should be back online by the end of the week." He looked at her very seriously. Almost skeptical but he seemed polite enough. "Do you need me to write it down?"

Careful not to joustle the eggs too much, she shook her head. "No. No, I got it."

"Thank you." He bowed a very formal deep bow.

She bowed as low as she dared, which was little more than an inclination of her head. "Uh- No problem."

Then they parted ways. She continued her path home while he walked up the street in the opposite direction. She only made it a few steps before she was stopping in her tracks.

"Oh!" The fact that he had never given his name suddenly occurred to her. Quickly she turned around. "Who should I say the message is-"

He was gone.

"From?"

When she got home and told Hiruma about her odd encounter, cryptic message included, he didn't seem too concered. He also didn't seem too inclinedto give her any more details concerning the issue. All he had said about it was that it was about time and then he had gone right back to typing away at his laptop.

XxX

It took a bit of bribery and sacrificing a bit of what little dignity she had left but she somehow managed to convince him to go to the winter festival with her. She has been admiring a side stand that was selling scarves when the fact that she was alone hit her. Abandoning the stand she started looking for him. There was no telling what kind of trouble he could get into alone in a crowd such as this.

She found him near the petting zoo. There were the usual animals: pigs, sheeps, and the like. There was also several deer like things with some very impressive set of horns. He wasn't alone either. Quickly she sped up her pace, as she got closer she recognized the short man she had met several weeks earlier on her way back from the grocery store. There was also an older woman that appeared to be giving him some sort of gift.

By the time she reached them, both strangers were already gone. Slowing herself to a more reasonable pace as she stopped next to him. "What was that about?"

"Just a little token of appreciation."

She only just managed to avoid saying: token of appreciation, you? Instead she leaned in to get a closer look at what he was holding. It looked harmless enough. A small round tin with a snowflake design on the lid. It certainly didn't look like a bribe or any other sort of unsavory thing. "What's inside?"

Popping the lid off, she felt herself smile a big happy smile at the sight of homemade cookies.

"Want one?" The smirk on his face was way too smug for her liking. It was clearly daring her to take one. Like he knew she wanted one because she was a snacker and there was no way she could resist such an opportunity as this. The longer she didn't say anything the more amused he looked. He also knew that if she didn't eat them they would go to waste.

So, though it pained her greatly, she said. "No thanks."

Later, when he was standing in line for noodles and she was saving them a place to sit, she opened the tin. It was filled with delicious looking bite sized cookies. They were all different patterns and shapes. Delicately she plucked out one that was shaped like a star. With great caution she looked over at the long line her husband was standing in. He appeared to be moments away from blackmailing the people in front of him into leaving the cue.

Good, he'd be distracted for a while. Happily she took a bit and almost dropped the remainder of the treat in shock.

It was the best cookie she had ever eaten.

XxX

It was that time of the year again.

Mamori was insistent that they clean the apartment from top the bottom in preparation for the New Year. Which is how Hiruma found himself standing a chair, not one of the good ones but the one with the wobbly leg. Why he was here while she was standing below him thumbing through the mail he wasn't quite sure.

She was apparently a lot craftier than he gave her credit for.

"There was a letter in the mailbox."

He was currently shoving some of the heavier boxes up into the closet. His voice strained as he struggled not to drop the whole thing on his head. From the way this thing weighed he'd guessed she was storing her brick collection up there. "What does it say?"

"I don't know." She looked at the name on the front of the envelope. "It's addressed to you."

He really didn't have the attention span for this right now. "Well open it up and read it."

"So what's it say?"

Her eyes scanned through the brief message. "It's a thank you note from a Mr. C for your help with the gifts and hopes you're on board for next year."

"Che. Like he'd survive without me."

She turned the envelope over in search of any additional information. But there was nothing useful. No return address, no full name, or picture attachment. She didn't recognize the handwriting at all. "Who's Mr. C?"

Placing his foot on a crate full of books that were heading to charity donations for balance, he grunted out, "Mr. Clause."

"Mr. Clause." She dead panned.

"Yeah." He finally managed to shove the thing way back in there. Bending down for the last box, he was pleased to find it was filled with something that was a lot light than the previous box. This one he had no problem shoving back on the shelf.

"And where does he live?"

"Way up north." He headed to the kitchen for a drink. Amused and little confused when she followed behind him like a dog after a bone.

"Are you trying to tell me you work for Santa Clause?" Sure her question was a little rushed and more than a little accusatory but this was a lot of information to take in at once. Besides there was no way what she was thinking could actually be true. The notion was ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous. Right. Right?

He dug around the cabinet for a glass. "Not like I'm trying to hide it."

Suspicion weighed heavily in her tone. "And what do you get out of this?"

"Fucking peace on Earth and good will to my fellow man."

"You honestly expect me to believe that you're-" She almost couldn't bring herself to say what she was thinking but somehow she managed to choke out the words. "Santa's little helper?"

He gave her one of _those _looks. "Who did you think gave the fat man his list every year?"

Mamori sighed. Only Youichi.


	52. Up Through the Atmosphere

Chapter Fifty Two: Up Through the Atmosphere

Disclaimer: I do not own Eyeshield 21.

Holiday Helping Hand Arc: 2/2

Song Playing: Let's Go Fly A Kite

Theme 36: Fly

The benefit of folding laundry, besides having nice clothes to wear, was that it gave her a chance to think. She had done this particular chore so many times that it was automatic for her. Now her mind mostly wondered. It was both therapeutic and useful. It was during one such afternoon that her mind brought her to what month it was and a certain quickly approaching date. "You know-"

"I don't." Hiruma put a pair of blue ankle socks to the side.

She didn't trust him to do any actual folding; the man couldn't make a pair of pants fit neatly in a drawer to save his life. On the other hand she wasn't going to be saddled with laundry duty just because he had folding issues. Thus he was in charge of matching the socks. A task that never failed to turn him into a six foot tall bottle blonde grump. Some days it took all her will power not to strangle him with a dress shirt. "I just realized something."

"Did you now?" A muffled curse escaped him when he discovered that several of the socks were inside out. It was a personal pet peeve of his to have to turn them right side in.

Though she managed to keep a full fledged smile from breaking out, she couldn't keep the corners of her mouth from twitching upwards. Her husband of almost three full very interesting years was almost too much sometimes. "Our anniversary is next week."

"Funny how that seems to come up the same time every year."

She sighed. On a normal day getting him to talk without the snide comments was a miracle. To get him to even respond when he was in one of his sock matching moods was like pulling teeth. To have the conversation without the added clips was impossible. Still, her smile was getting very hard to repress as he found another inside out sock, it was always amusing. Life never was dull with him around. Even when doing dull tasks like folding laundry.

XxX

The problem, she decided, with having an anniversary in winter in a country where seasonal weather existed was that it made dressing up rather difficult. Especially since she was married to the most unpredictable man on the face of the planet. This meant dressing nice in a practical way in preparation for his inevitable surprises. It also meant enough layers to ward off goose bumps and cold toes.

Goosebumps and cold toes, as a rule, were extremely unromantic.

Despite their unconventional relationship Mamori enjoyed romance. She didn't get it too often but she expected it, at least on their anniversary. Felt entitled to it really. And with all she put up with, without batting an eye, he found it reasonable to fulfill this particular expectation of hers.

This is how she found herself bundled to the nines in the middle of the park late on the night of their third year of being married to one another. The park itself wasn't too remarkable. It was the same park they had walked through many times before, nothing too special about it. Sure it was a nice park, well lit and in a good neighborhood, but it's not like it held any nostalgic memories. He didn't propose here. It wasn't where they had their first date. They didn't even meet here. What she did find remarkable was the large sleigh looking very out of place in one of the many open grass areas. She didn't know what to make of the eight deer like animals harnessed to the front either.

This was certainly his most unique romantic outing to date. How romantic, romantic actually was she wasn't quite sure.

"What's all this?"

Nose pink from the cold; he shot her one of his grins. Climbing into the giant red sleigh, he held out his hand and carefully helped her into the seat next to him. Pulling up some blankets around them, he casually held onto the reigns. "Remember when you asked what I got out of helping the fat man with his list?"

It took a moment for her work pass the weirdness of it all to recall that particular incident and answer back. It was all so strange that she didn't even think to reprimand him for insulting Father Christmas like she usually would. "Peace of Earth and goodwill for all?"

"Yeah, only not." She recognized that glint in his eyes. It was the one he got whenever he was about to do something he found fun. Of course what he found fun and what typical people found fun were two very different things. She braced herself for whatever he was going to throw at her. "I get full access to his global networking surveillance system at my discretion and his sleigh with advance notice providing it's not December."

She had no idea where he was going with this and it was showing.

"This sleigh."

Still nothing clicked.

"Complete with the flying reindeer."

Her face fell into deadpan. "What."

The next thing she knew the wind was whistling past her ears, her eyes were screwed shut as her fingernails dug into the wood, and she was shrieking like someone was murdering her. It took a while but soon she was still clutching her eyes and her grip with her face stinging slightly from the icy wind but she wasn't screaming anymore. There was only so long one could screech like she was screeching before a glass of water was needed to continue. Turns out her limit was three minutes at full volume plus five minutes of low pitiful whining with outbursts of short shouts.

"You done shrieking?"

She probably had one more good loud one in her but her heart was currently lodged in her throat. So she seattled for a meek nod.

"You wanna open your eyes?"

If her eyes had been open they would have widened in panic. Instead she gave a violent shake of her head.

He gave one of those throaty chuckles that she was secretley fond of, which developed into a full blown bark of laughter that startled her. Not enough to loosen her paint chipping grip but enough to ease up on sqeezing her eyes shut. A few mintutes later she forced herself to open her eyes. Startled at the rush of wind, she blinked furiously.

"Here." She felt an instant nudge to her shoulder. "Put these on."

Grasping, she fumbled for a bit before adjusting the goggles over her eyes. As soon as they were secure, her hands flew back to the sleigh. Blinking away wind shed tears, she finally took the time to take in her surroundings. At first she was in a strange sense of awe and adrelaline at being so high up with virtually no barriers keeping her inside. Then she happened to look down and her breath caught in her throat at the sight of the city lights. They were so small from all the way up here nothing more than pin pricks, really. And with none of the sounds of heavy traffic or the semi-constant smoggy air. It was- it was magical. Sure it was a childish thought, she knew but there was no other way of putting it.

She couldn't help herself. She laughed. Loud and clear she laughed and she couldn't bring herself to stop even if she wanted to.

"Want to try?"

Over her noises of protest he settled himself closer. Placing her hands on the reigns, he kept his grip until her objections stopped and she started to smile. Then, slowly, he let go. Then she was laughing and shouting. Only it wasn't the freaked out banshee cries she had been doing earlier but happy shouts. Leaning back comfortably against the back rail he put his hands behind his head and let himself enjoy the moment.

Best anniversary ever.


	53. Downside of a Brilliant Mind

Chapter Fifty Three: Downside of a Brilliant Mind

Disclaimer: I do not own Eyeshield 21.

Song Playing: Bad Girlfriend

Theme 10: think

When they started going out there wasn't much of a change in their relationship. They still fought. He still shot at the players. She still scolded him when she thought he was being too harsh, which was almost always. Only now she made him lunch and didn't try to upset his authority in front of the other players. He walked her home from after practice and held back on pointing out her love of eating in public because it bothered her.

What surprised him about their new relationship with the lack of physicality to it. He had actually been dreading the hugs and stuff he was sure she'd be doing now that they were officially dating. After all she did it with everyone else. He had been mentally preparing himself for the onslaught of hand holding and nuzzling and other affectionate crap that public television had taught him to expect from teenage girls. Especially ones as physical and opinionated as his fucking manager was prone to be.

So when days turned into weeks and nothing out of the ordinary had happened he started to relax a little. It seemed like she wasn't going to be excessively touching him like he had been anticipating.

And if he had dwelled on it he would have come to the conclusion that it bothered him.

A lot.

Not doing all the touchy feely girly crap he thought she would do.

As it was, it didn't really start bugging him until he started noticing how affectionate he was with other people. Even people she had known for less time than she had been dating him. Then it started grating on his nerves. It was also making him question why this was.

The reasons he was coming up with only served to agitate him further.

They continued to build and boil inside until he just couldn't take it anymore. The two of them were conducting an interview with Kumabukuro, who they had met on and off again throughout their football career. He was just getting ready to leave when she had pulled him into one of her famous goodbye hugs. She was waving the reporter off and he was getting ready to explode.

He could almost hear something inside him break. The door had barely closed behind 'Bomberhead', as he had been known before his retirement from professional football, before he was confronting his girlfriend. In his normal charming way of course. "Why do you avoid touching me when you're practically all over a complete stranger?"

Her mouth dropped in shock at his accusation. "I was not all over him!"

"Well he's gotten more from you than I fucking have." He glared. "Why don't you fucking do shit like that with me? Why do you avoid me?"

"I don't-" Then she got this expression like she realized that she wasn't going to get out of this one through denial. That's about when she got really fidgety. Her fingers fiddled with the hem of her shirt; her eyes found the floor fascinating. And to complete it all a blush dusted her cheeks. "Okay. Fine I do avoid hugging you and stuff."

He looked like he was ready to snap somebody in half. "I already knew that. What I want to know is _why_ you fucking do it!"

"It's just- It's not-" Taking a deep breath and looked at him straight in the eye. "You're bony, okay?"

He had spent the last several weeks driving himself nuts over this and this is the answer she gave him? He couldn't wrap his mind around what she just said. "I'm what?"

"Bony." She was in full flustered mode now, complete with nervous chatter. "You're so tall and lanky that when I do try to rest my head on your shoulder it's not comfortable at all. It's like leaning against a rock. Or if I try to get close to you on the couch your elbows dig into my ribs. Then when we hug my nose gets squished and there's just no soft places for me to rest my head even if-"

"What?" For the first time in his life Hiruma Yoichi was at a complete loss. His very affectionate girlfriend wasn't affectionate with him because he was bony. Not because she didn't like him or any of the other millions of reasons he had come up with over the last few days. Just because it was actually physically uncomfortable for do the touchy feely stuff.

He felt like an idiot.

He also felt like bashing his head against the nearest solid surface.

The pitfall of being a person with a high level of intellect?

Over-thinking.


	54. Sounds of Settling

Chapter Fifty Four: Sounds of Settling

Disclaimer: I do not own Eyeshield 21.

Song Playing: Kiss With A Fist

Theme 78: Kitchen

She just felt so out of place, like she was intruding. It was a feeling she _did not_ like and it wasn't fading. In fact, it was getting worse.

In all honesty this was partially her fault: getting so excited about moving in with her longtime boyfriend to the point that she deliberately left out his less appealing qualities when imagining their new life together. On the other hand a very large part of her was placing the blame on Suzuna: who had been the one to get her excited about this in the first place. She was the one who had kept going on about the romantic aspects of it, how cozy it would be, and it had kind of rubbed off on her. It had left her feeling giddy and a good kind of nervous that she hadn't felt before she had started talking to the smaller girl.

The feeling had lasted until she had first opened the door into his- their- apartment the day she moved in.

The place was a sty. There was no nicer way of putting it. Clothes appeared to be growing from the floor and was being fertilized by the discarded trash. If she focused she could make out roster forms, game plans, phone trees, and diagrams mixed in it all. All of which she had helped to create; literally littering what she assumed was the furniture.

Her fingers absolutely itched to clean it all up but felt like that might be an invasion of his privacy somehow. After all this wasn't like the clubhouse. This was his living space. The place where he came to relax and unwind.

Admittedly unwinding involved a lot of mess and a massive quantity of takeout but, really, who was she to judge?

Two and a half weeks of not feeling comfortable in her new home had her re-thinking this whole moving in together thing. Then she stumbled into the kitchen. In contrast to the rest of the apartment the kitchen looked like it was never set foot in.

Curious she began muddling around and found it to be completely below her standards. For one it was dusty. What wasn't dusty was grimy, which she wasn't sure which she found more repulsive. Two it was under stocked. The cabinets and fridge did contain some odd assortment of past the expiration date and junk.

Though she had been pleasantly surprised that it was complete with cook and cookware. Hers in fact, when had he done that? This, however, did not make up for general lack of hygiene and sustenance.

Rolling up her sleeves she ventured back into the living area where the majority of her moving boxes still resided.

She shuffled them around for a few minutes before finding the one marked CLEANING SUPPLIES. Opening it up she smiled at the familiar sight of gloves, solutions, and rags. Donning the yellow rubber gloves and a bandana she marched back into the kitchen to begin an intense cleaning regiment the likes of which had never been seen before.

Working through the morning and into the afternoon, she only paused to empty out her swampy mop bucket. She scavenged what she could from the meager food supply they possessed to start on dinner.

Sitting in her spotless kitchen waiting for her rice to cook, her eyes couldn't help but wander over to the cluttered living space. A quick glance at the clock informed her that she had some time to kill. So, grabbing several trash bags she set about ridding the apartment of any garbage.

Then, while she was at it, she started sorting the recyclables and stacking papers she knew were important.

XxX

Hiruma was getting ready for a confrontation. Utilizing the long train ride home to organize his plan of attack that provided the highest level of success in the least amount of time. After almost three weeks of his girlfriend skating around him like she didn't know what to do with herself, he was fed up. He'd waited long enough for her to settle in but she seemed reluctant to do more than have her brush in the bathroom and share his futon.

It unnerved him in a way that nothing else had before.

There was terrible nagging feeling in the back of his head. He couldn't shake the thought that she was ready to leave the moment the two of them disagreed on something. Over all it made him feel like he was walking through a mine field.

So he was going to do the responsible things. He was going to man up and talk to her. He was going to sit her down and explain how it was her home as much as his. She could unpack her stuff. She could rearrange the furniture, if she could find it under his piles of crap. She didn't have to pick her way around carefully like she was going to disturb something. He was cool with it. He wanted her in his personal space, in his life. He wouldn't have asked her to move in with him if he wasn't sure that it was what he wanted.

Glancing down to make sure the mutt was still at his heels and hadn't left to terrorize one of the neighbors, he let himself into the apartment. Then he almost turned around and walked right back out. There was a brief disorienting second where he actually though he had walked into the wrong house.

The place was in clean in a way it had never been before: even when he had first moved in and hadn't had a lot of stuff to clutter it with. Her boxes that she hadn't unpacked were no longer taking up space in the entry way. There was also the suspicious smell of something cooking: not burning or rotting but actually cooking. He was mildly surprised when his stomach growled lightly in response. Cerberus also seemed confused, nose in the air as if to confirm that this was the same place they had left that morning.

Then a familiar cheerful female figure peered around the corner that entered the never used kitchen.

"Welcome home!" She wiped her hands on a dish cloth. "You should go wash up. Dinner's almost done, I'm just waiting for the rice to finish up."

Then she disappeared right back into the kitchen.

He continued to stand in that doorway, looking down to share a long look with Cerberus. The mutt shifted his shoulders in a way that suggested a shrug before giving a huff and trotting in after her. _Well,_ he slipped his own shoes off and finally closed the door behind him,_ all right then._


	55. Typical Household Conversations

Chapter Fifty Five: Typical Household Conversations

Disclaimer: I do not own Eyeshield 21.

Song Playing: When You're An Addams from the Addams Family Musical

Inspiration: Crawley from Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Prachett.

Theme 95: Disappear

Once the apartment started to remain free of decay a very strange thing began to happen. It started when she was walking home from the grocery store. There was a small shop just a few blocks away from their home that sold plants: household, yard, planters, and the such. She hesitated in front of the door long enough to gain several strange looks before gathering the courage to enter.

She was a black thumb gardener. She knew it. Her mother knew it. Her father was greatly amused by it.

Still she couldn't help but feel deep deep down this time would be different. Thus she found herself leaving the quiet shop with several plants that the shop owner had promised she wouldn't be able to kill with nothing less than a blowtorch.

Thus she left in much higher spirits than she had entered with.

XxX

It wasn't what he expected to come home to. Sure there were some adjustments that they both made when they moved in together. However none of their compromises had lead him to believe that he would walk through the door to find her facedown on the table with several dried crinkled things in pots by the top of her head. Well, he was never one to beat about the bush. "What are those things?"

"My plants." Came a muffled reply.

"Uh-huh." Wherever this was heading it wasn't going to end well. Carefully he sat down, making sure to keep arms distance from his long time girlfriend. "What killed your plants?"

She made a noise that he assumed was a word. It just wasn't any word that he could distinguish with her face buried so far into the crook of her arm. When she didn't make an effort to repeat herself, he replied with a very unintelligent: "What?"

This time she exploded.

"Me all right! Me!"

And, though he knew it wasn't a very good live in boyfriend thing to do, he laughed. A loud sharp bark of laughter that he just couldn't help even as he filed away this information for later. The glare that she was giving him and the fact that she looked ready to hurl one of her dead potted plants at his head didn't deter him in the slightest.

XxX

She was deeply confused. "Youichi?"

He gave a grumbled acknowledgement that he had heard but didn't particularly care if she kept conversing with him.

"What are all of these?"

Despite  
the rumors in high school, he did not have eyes in the back of his head. Thus it was with great reluctance that he tore his eyes away from the glowing screen of his computer screen and turned around. Several feet away Mamori was standing in a corner touching the leaf of the hanging foliage that lived there. She appeared to be dumbfounded: like she knew it was there but she couldn't bring herself to believe what she was seeing. The dumbfounded was slowly turning to suspicion as she took in the homey leafy interior that their apartment had gained in her absence. "My plants."

Geez. Go away for a few days and suddenly the world stops making sense. "... They're yours?"

"Yah." At this point he apparently lost interest in the conversation, returning back to his work. "I find it soothing."

"Uh huh." There was no way she was just going to let this go. "I'm going to take a shower."

However she was willing to put it on hold until she had clean hair, a full belly, and a good night's sleep under her belt. Then they could discuss how unfair the universe was granting him a green thumb when all her gardening endeavors ended in dead sticks.

XxX

Rounding the corner, she sputtered to a stop before backtracking. Hands on her hips she glared mutinously down at a clean spot on her floor. She bit her lip. Then she pointed to a spot on the ground and looked up to where Hiruma was working at their small table. "Didn't there used to be a plant right here?"

"Hm." He looked over his shoulder. "No."

No. That wasn't right. She was positive there used to be plant right there. It was a big thing in a red pot that she whacked her shin against every time she turned that particular corner. "There was definitely a plant here before."

"Crazy talk."

She was not crazy. When she left to take Cerberus out for his morning walk there was definitely a giant potted something: fern, ivy, whatever it was. Now it wasn't there. She didn't know why and she didn't know how but he had gotten rid of it. It might take a while but she was determined to find out just what he was up to. After all, she was not the type to just let things go.

XxX

She had gotten home early than expected. It was a nice surprise that meant she'd be able to actually cook dinner instead of resigning herself to whatever take out Youichi decided to pick up. Really, she loved him to death but the man could not boil water. Which left take away the safest, if not more dull, option. Barely in the doorway she didn't even have time to call out in greeting when she heard a noise coming from deeper in the apartment. If she didn't know better she would have thought that Youichi was talking to himself.

"- a whole lot better than this if you don't want to end up like the fucking weeping willow in the red pot."

... Or to the plants.

"You have sun. You have water. Now if you want to keep having a dirt pot to live in your going to have to do better than this wilted leaf bull shit you've been giving me for the last week."

She had to admit, even if it was only to herself, that this was one of the weirder things she had witnessed her boyfriend doing. It was one thing to talk to plants to keep them happy and healthy. It was a whole other thing to scare them into being vibrant. There was something very creepy about knowing that the foliage scattered through her home were potentially terrified right down to the tips of their little roots.

"Fucking Fern, get ready to meet your new home in the furnace."

Carefully she closed the door and walked right back out the way she came.

XxX

A week later she managed to work past the strangeness of it all to discuss his threatening of the houseplants into lush green complacency.

Even though she had confronted him, told him that she saw him talking to the plants he still denied everything. Just kept telling her that he had a knack for nurturing. That he had to let things grow. It made her want to whack him in the head really _really_ bad. But she was the mature one in their relationship so she stormed out the door, letting out a small shriek of frustration, and went to start her afternoon shift.

She didn't appreciate him playing dumb.

He wasn't good at it and it was kind of insulting on a very personal level that he tried at all.

She also didn't appreciate his sense of humor.

Especially when she found the little succulent cactus on her desk at the day care.


	56. Small Steps Forward

Chapter Fifty Six: Small Steps Forward

Disclaimer: I do not own Eyeshield 21.

Song Playing: World So Cold

Theme 16: Peace

Hiruma Youichi was a man who was comfortable with himself. He knew the power he held. He knew how intelligent he was. He was even aware of his handsome exterior, though it was often overlooked in favor of his more menacing evil aura. Still, as confident as he was, there was something about the fact that his mother and long time girlfriend went to lunch every Sunday without fail that unnerved him more than he cared to admit.

Most of the time he was able to utilize this alone time to his advantage. He called people he knew Mamori didn't approve of, pop his gum as loud and as often as he wanted, and let Cerberus out to chase their dick of a neighbor that tried to steal his newspaper.

But every so often his brain would refuse to settle. And when his brain wouldn't settle the rest of his body followed its lead.

It was one of those days were his mind couldn't stay on one thought long enough to formulate anything but a vague notion before to was speeding off to the next thought. When Mamori was around she always found something for the two of them to do; she had a sixth sense about these sorts of things. She also had the uncanny knack for finding the one thing that was able to get his racing brain onto a single track instead of weaving in and out of lanes.

Then there were the times when he was alone, more often than not because she was having lunch with his mother. Most of the time he could hold off for a while, an hour maybe more before he his feet were hitting the pavement and he was wondering through the crowded streets like some kind of vagabond.

Today he hadn't lasted fifteen minutes.

Before he knew it he was walking through a familiar neighborhood he hadn't so much as set foot in since middle school. He couldn't remember the train ride over or when he decided to make the journey but it didn't change the door he was staring at. The unassuming door he had walked through a thousand times before and never expected to walk through ever again. It was as if he was on autopilot when he reached under the well treaded on welcome mat and closed long fingers around the spare house key.

He could think of a thousand reasons not to go inside. But then he saw her guilty expression whenever she came back from those weekly lunches. He knew she felt guilty for knowing things about his family, about wanting to talk about them but keeping quiet because she knew how he felt about them. Seeing her face like that made his chest ache.

So he sucked it up and went inside.

At the age of forty five Hiruma Yuuya was convinced he was having a heart attack when he stepped into his kitchen to find his only son sitting at the table like he had never left home.

Ten minutes later he was forced to admit he wasn't having a heart attack. That there wasn't an easy way out of this confrontation. Working past the knots his heart and stomach, he took a seat next to his boy. And he waited.

And waited.

And waited.

It dragged on forever and seemed to go by in the blink of eye at the same time. His trembling hands fiddled with his tea mug, the same one he had been meaning to reheat when he had first walked into the room half an hour ago. Then, suddenly, he couldn't take the quiet anymore.

"She's a good girl." He shifted uncomfortably in his chair, avoiding eye contact at all costs. "Anezaki, I mean. She's a good girl."

There was a long silence. Long enough for him to wonder if it had been the wrong thing to say. Maybe he had ruined what tentative bridge his son was trying to make in their relationship. Maybe his personal relationships were off limits. Maybe he should have kept his mouth shut and just appreciated the idea that his only child could tolerate being in the same room as him. Which was more than he had ever thought possible even as early as that morning. Maybe- Maybe-

"The best."

His heart nearly leapt out of his throat at the sound of his son's voice. It was the first time in year that he had heard it addressed to him. Not to reporters, not to players, not to anyone else but to him. Him and no one else. His hands stopped shaking.

For twenty minutes after that they sat in that kitchen without another syllable spoken between them.

Then he left just the way he came in: without a sound and without a word.

He couldn't bring himself to move in fear for a long time after that. Afraid that if he so much as twitched that that moment would forever be gone. That he would startle himself awake and find out it never happened. It wasn't until his wife came home hours later asking him what he wanted for dinner that he found himself taking a deep shuddering breath and crying into his cold tea.


	57. Spit The Seed

Chapter Fifty Seven: Spit The Seed

Disclaimer: I do not own Eyeshield 21.

Song Playing: What A Game! (from Ragtime)

Theme 59: Eat

It wasn't that never got time to herself any more, it was just that she never got time to run the errands necessary to having a home up to her expectant level of cleanliness and food stock. Hiruma didn't seem to understand that not having clean clothes or being forced to eat instant noodles was not an acceptable way to live for any sort of expanded period of time. Thus with classes ending, summer break starting, and training camp getting into full swing Mamori decided it was high time she said something. So she seized her opportunity.

"I'm not coming in on two a days this week." She was not asking a question, requesting permission, or making casual conversation. She was telling him flat out no exceptions she wasn't going to be there. Quite the feat for her, considering that meant she was going to be missing three- count them three- days of practice. It was unheard of for her to miss a single day unless she was off doing other errands for the team.

Hiruma shrugged, popping his gum. Scanning over a paper he placed it in a pile on the other side of the table before looking over another sheet. "Okay fine."

"For one thing, " The manager barreled forward. "I need to go grocery shopping. I also need to get a jump start on my summer reading if you're still planning the cross country training regiment you were talking about at the end of term."

He gave her one of his patronizing looks. "I already said fine."

"For another there isn't enough time for me to-" She startled from her speech. "Wait. What?"

"I said fine."

This had to be some kind of trick. "Are you sure?"

He gave her a look that said if she made him say it again it wasn't going to be fine after all.

"Well... okay then."

That had been much easier than she had thought it would be. With some disappointment at not being able to use the flow chart or graphs she had prepared for just this occasion, she began to mentally organize her week. Today was Sunday so chores tomorrow, Wednesday and Friday while Hiruma handled two a days. That meant going in to discuss summer training on Tuesday and Thursday before the schedule returned to normal.

In the end she was more efficient than she gave herself credit for. The first day had been busy: gathering trash, separating recyclables, sorting laundry and the like. She'd even gotten a start on her school work. Her laptop (an unexpected but practical gift from the quarterback as a welcome-back-now-get-to-work present) had several rough drafts and a good start on an essay.

Day two consisted of clearing out the fridge and re-stocking the cabinets. This was followed by more studying which was broken up by periods of re-organizing team paperwork. A quick dinner, a hot shower, and an early bedtime. Now here she was in the middle of day three, bored out of her mind.

She was even considering going into practice just to kill time when her phone rang.

Now this wasn't an unusual occurrence. Neither was the fact that it was Hiruma on the other end of the line. She was actually thinking that it was a little weird that he hadn't called earlier to pester her or give her gripe. What was strange was that he was asking her to eat watermelon with him.

She wasn't quite sure what to make of that.

Still, a train ride and a quick jog to the school later she found herself sitting under an umbrella. The lawn chair she was sitting in caused the back of her legs to itch a bit but was easily ignored. It really was a beautiful day. Hiruma was even cooperating, insults were at a minimum as he fed their rinds to Cerberus. Even so she couldn't bring herself to fully enjoy the moment. Glancing about against the glare of there afternoon sun she said, "It's not that I'm not happy that you wanted to eat the first watermelon of summer with me but..."

"But what?" He spat out a black seed, hitting a passerby right in the back of the head with a force that looked like it hurt.

"Don't you think it's a little," She paused to find the right word: wiping a small dribble of juice off with a napkin. "I don't know, cruel for us to be eating it like we are?"

He raised an eyebrow at her. He didn't see what the problem was. "How do you mean?"

"I mean shouldn't we wait. Until the others are done before we help ourselves." She winced a little as Hiruma blew the whistle. The entire team dropped from their stationary jogging positions down to the ground for a quick push up. A few of them looked like they were going to be sick and the vast majority of them looked like they weren't going to be able to force themselves back up their feet. Surprisingly all of them accomplished the task.

He clearly did not agree with her assessment.

He waited another thirty seconds before blowing the whistle twice. The effect was immediate. Every single body collapsed in exhaustion, as if their legs couldn't hold them up anymore. "Enjoy it while you can! You have sixty seconds then you're doing suicides until your fucking legs fall off! If you're quick there might even be some left for you!"

There was a collective groan as they began to pull themselves back up: stretching, getting watching, trying to regain a normal not ragged breathing pattern.

The quarterback reclined back and gave her one of his looks. "What were you saying?"

"Nothing." She shook her head a little, wincing a little when a drop of watermelon juice slide right down into her bra when she bit into it a little too messily. "Just... nothing."

Then again, Mamori thought to herself as she took another generous bite of her slice, it was a really good watermelon.


	58. Fingers On The Laces

Chapter Fifty Eight: Fingers On The Laces

Disclaimer: I do not own Eyeshield 21.

Song Playing: Swing Swing

Theme 4: Late

It was late. Which wasn't anything new, it was always late when they were finally ready to leave. By the time they were actually locking up everyone else had been gone for hours.

Today was no exception.

She was busy organizing equipment and doing some general tidying up. If the clubhouse was anything short of immaculate when she left, it would drive her nuts until she was able to get in the next morning. At this late in the game she had pretty much trained the entire team and the cheerleading squad to clean up after themselves. If it wasn't for Hiruma she'd be in and out within fifteen minutes. The man was like a tornado. He never put anything away. He never threw anything away. He never even put his dirty uniform into the hamper; instead he piled it right next to it as if to taunt her. Some days, like today, she thought he did these things on purpose. Just to aggravate her.

He did these things on purpose.

He had a feeling that she suspected. He might even go so far to say that she knew in her gut but she'd never say anything about it. Not out loud and definitely not without evidence. The best part was that she didn't know the real reason why he did things like pull out folders he didn't need or leave videos out of their cases or use a new pen for every piece of paper he wrote on and leaving it wherever he was at that moment. See, she thought he did it just to drive her up a wall.

This was true but it was true on a secondary level.

The cold hard truth was he liked her. A lot. Unfortunately he was rather... inexperienced in the liking a girl department. So he had to settle for these little distractions to get her attention. Plus it was nice to have someone else around. Even if they grumbled a little and didn't talk much during their time alone together.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw her pause in her re-organization of the equipment closet. She was holding one of the older balls that had worn patches on the leather and strings hanging out from the laces. The football seemed impossibly large in her smaller hands.

It was in that moment that he was blindsided by an overwhelming curiosity. "Oi!" Her head snapped up and she looked deeply embarrassed. She was also surprised enough to try to hide the thing behind her back. This was even more amusing, now there was no way he was going to let this slide. "Pass it."

She blinked. "What?"

He clapped his hands together and the sound seemed to echo in the small room. "Throw the fucking ball."

She seemed unsure but he wasn't backing down either. With a sigh she brought is back out. With great focus and concentration she positioned herself like she had seen him do a million times before. Then she let it fly. The ball cart wheeled and stopped short, hitting the desk before bouncing around until it settled in between a couple of the game machines. When his eyes snapped back to her, she was biting her lip and her ears were red.

It was just too good of an opportunity to pass up. "You throw like a fucking girl."

The rest of her face was now as red as her ears. "I am a girl!"

"Doesn't mean you have to throw like one." Getting up, he squatted down to retrieve the wayward ball before making his way to where she was standing. "You're holding it wrong." With asking he grabbed her hand and started placing her fingers correctly. "Your fingers can't be all clumped together. They need to be spread out, in between the laces like this."

She did as he directed but then she couldn't grip it properly. With a sigh he spent the better part of the evening teaching her the proper techniques: getting her footing right, showing her when to let go, and most importantly how to compensate for her hand being so much smaller than his.

When he deemed her ready he went back to his original spot several feet away, "Now try."

She looked hesitant but threw it just the way he had been showing her. It made a wobbling arc before he caught it.

Well, she was no Joe Montana but she was passable.

When he told her as much she didn't get mad like he thought she would. Instead her face flushed and she actually seemed kind of, sort of pleased. It was an expression he would definitely be remembering for a long time after this. Not for any sort of blackmail or anything but for his own personal happiness.

Oh yeah. He definitely did those kinds of things on purpose. He was also going to be doing a lot more of them if it got him moments like this with her.


	59. Minor Restorations

Chapter Fifty Nine: Minor Restorations

Disclaimer: I do not own Eyeshield 21.

Song Playing: Handlebars by Flobot

Theme 2: Back Alley

She was in debt. It was an unfamiliar feeling and one she did not care for but the fact remained that she owed money. Mamori knew she would the moment she signed her soul over to the financial aid in order to obtain her student loan. It didn't help matters when the majority of her spare time was consumed in sports activities, therefore leaving any sort of supplement income up to whatever odd job she could get during her off hours.

Due to her lack of funds she had been forced to take an apartment further away from the university than she would have liked. Namely it required her to take a series of alleys in what could be considered a dodgy neighborhood in order to get to the train station that would eventually take her to the campus. Lucky for her, the football manager was as smart as she was pretty. Knowing the dangers of wondering the alleys alone at night she took it upon herself to set up precautionary measures. One of those measures was being sure to take Cerberus along with her to and from her apartment. Others were the safety whistle she kept around her neck and a can of the highest grade of pepper spray in her jacket pocket, both courtesy of the cheer squad.

Recently there had been the unexpected company of Hiruma walking her home after they had locked up for the night. She still wasn't sure what suddenly prompted the quarterback into making sure she got home alright. All she knew for certain was that one night she had said her goodbyes just as she had done a thousand times before and the nest thing she knew she had fallen in step right along side her, like it was something he did everyday. She had been so dumbfounded that she hadn't been able to bring herself to ask what he thought he was doing.

After that it seemed rather awkward. So, she didn't.

Instead she allowed herself to enjoy the extra feeling of security, knowing he was in arms reach should something happen.

It was several weeks after he had started escorting her home that she started noticing a change in their walk from the train station to her front door. Little things that she hadn't really paid attention to at first: less trash littering the streets, graffiti gone from walls, things like that.

Then the little things started to turn into bigger things: an increase in the number of lamp posts, a decrease in the number of sketchy looking individuals resulting in an all around safer feeling.

Though it wasn't until they passed a construction crew working on widening one of the narrower alleyways and another several blocks up putting the finishing touches on a nice set of suburban homes that had only recently been built that she felt the need to say something out loud, "Is it just me or does this neighborhood seem... nicer than usual?"

Hiruma, for his part, just gave a careless shrug. "I hadn't noticed."

At that moment Mamori's cell rang from somewhere deep within the confines of her bag. It was because she was so busy trying to dig it out she failed to notice the way several of the men working on the houses stopped to wave as they passed by. They were nothing if not grateful for the pay bonus the blond had given them for completing the project so quickly.


	60. Sound Bytes of Affection

Chapter Sixty: Sound Bytes of Affection

Disclaimer: I do not own Eyeshield 21.

Song Playing: Les Miserables on shuffle

Theme 26: Pickpocket

It was the first Tuesday of the month.

It was an unspoken understanding between Musashi and Hiruma that they would meet on this day whenever their schedules allowed, which was almost always as they both went out of their way not to plan anything. That's why the former kicker thought it was more than a little strange to hear a voice that wasn't his friend floating through the closed door. Though it was a voice he was very familiar with and therefore he didn't feel so bad interrupting whatever she was saying by knocking on the door. She'd understand.

Suddenly the voice cut out and was replaced by the growing sound of footsteps. Moments later the door opened and he was entering the rather claustrophobic dwelling of his former football captain. From his place in the entryway Musashi couldn't see most of the hovel that Hiruma call his home. He certainly didn't see anyone else. He also couldn't hear anything else but the steady typing of laptop keys as the blond returned to his work.

Leaving his shoes in their customary place by the door, he entered the main living space where the imposing figure of Hiruma was surrounded by laundry and stacks of books. Diligently he worked away on his computer, not tossing out so much as a casuel greeting. As Musashi looked around he found no sign of the voice he had heard just outside the front door. Finally curiosity got the better of him. He set his trusty toolkit on chair covered with take out menus and asked, "Where's Anezaki?"

"How the fuck should I know?" Was the blunt reply he got.

"Isn't she here?" The older looking young man craned his neck to try to peek through the stacked boxes that obscured his vision of the area that was supposed to be the kitchen. "I thought I heard her voice from outside."

For just a split second Musashi saw something pass across his friend's face that he had never seen before. It went too quickly for him to get an accurate read but it was something like a horrified embarrassed sickly expression. Then he had to blink and Hiruma was looking at him with his default face of serious with the edge of crazy. All his teeth were showing as he smirked in his condescending way of his. "Nobody here but me. Your hearing must be going so that it can finally match your face, fucking old man."

Having dealt with this kind of verbal abuse since middle school the gruff looking former kicker just let it roll off his shoulders. Instead he inspected the small apartment more closely. "Looks like you have a crack in the ceiling. Again. Is this a new one or the same one I fixed that last time I was over?"

"New one." Hiruma resumed his computer work. "There's a drip in the sink that's been driving me crazy, make sure that's fixed before you go."

Just another Tuesday.

But the weeks that followed were filled with little incidents that Musashi couldn't quite shake off. Suddenly he started noticing weird things about his friend concerning his electronics. He got an i-pod, for one thing. Completely out of the blue. Musashi wasn't aware his friend even liked music enough to buy a device created for the purpose of being able to listen to it anywhere. He had also gotten a lot more secretive about his computer projects. It seemed like he was constantly streaming something from his laptop to his music device. Finally he had gone over to Hiruma's house several times and each time he could swear he heard Anezaki but when he was inside couldn't find a trace of her anywhere. It was just him and his computer. Same as always.

Only something was most definitely up.

Finally, Musahi couldn't take it anymore. He had to know.

To be honest, Musashi expected a little more of a challenge when it came to swiping Hiruma's i-pod. Originally he had wanted to sneak a peek at whatever was on his friend's computer but it was next to impossible to get the two separated long enough to find out anything important. Besides, he had come to the conclusion that whatever was causing the weirdness in the blond was directly linked to his music player.

In the end he was more than a little disappointed when all it took was getting Hiruma to hold up the light fixture while he grabbed some screws. While the blond was occupied he just took it from the jacket pocket and tucked it away in his tool bag. Absurdly simple considering the jacket was slung over a chair and its owner had his back turned.

Really, he expected more out of his friend.

Still he had gotten what he had came for. Twenty minutes later he was saying his goodbyes and heading out the door. He waited until he was in the safety of his own home, in the confines of his own room before be pulled out the music storing device. Now was the time to put the end to this little mystery.

Turning it on, he was surprised to find that there wasn't much on it. Nothing but a handful of tracks that didn't have a genre, artist, or even a song title. They were just labeled by dates. Confused, he put on the headphones and picked one at random. He could feel his eyes widen as a female voice he knew very well met his ears. She didn't say much, something about getting his message and meeting him by the train station. The whole bit couldn't have lasted more than thirty seconds but it was enough to pique his curiosity.

Twenty minutes later he had gone through the entirety of Hiruma's i-pod contents. All of them had been Anezaki's voice. They never said anything very personal. Mostly they were reminders or confirmations. A couple of them had been questions about various football business. Only one had any trace of being more than their daily interaction and even that had just been a brief but friendly message about wishing him a happy birthday.

With great care he put the i-pod back into his toolkit, intent on making up come excuse to go back tomorrow. With any lucky it wouldn't be missed at all.

The whole experience was odd, very odd indeed.

Call him old fashioned but Musashi firmly believed that you should at least be dating the girl before you started converting voicemails she left into sound bytes that could be put on an i-pod. An i-pod that was bought with the intention of using it solely for listening to said girl's voice. Not only was it a time consuming project for someone who you weren't even sure liked you in that way but it was also creepy.

Like really creepy.

He was also sure it was unethical and violated more that a few social niceties.

Still, creepy unethical violations of social norms aside, Musashi had to admit that it was kind of sweet.

In that scary slightly menacing way that only Hiruma could pull off.


	61. A Common Courtesy

Chapter Sixty One: A Common Courtesy

Disclaimer: I do not own Eyeshield 21.

Song Playing: We Speak No Americano

Theme 62: Appear

Being on his own for so long had caused Hiruma to develop a few bad household habits. Little things that would have driven a roommate or girlfriend insane. Nothing mean spirited; it was mostly stuff like not closing the door when he went to the restroom, drinking straight out of the milk carton, and leaving dirty socks on the furniture. Since there was no one around to correct him about those types of things he kept right on doing them without a second thought. He wasn't hurting anybody. Besides it was his motto that if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

However the day his girlfriend walked in on him standing in front of the toilet doing his business made him wish that he had made the effort to adjust some of those habits before they decided to move in together.

In that moment, the only thing louder than his manly yelp was her high pitched squeak of embarrassment.

"Fucking hell!" The blonde's hands flew down as he fumbled with zipping his fly back up. "Didn't anyone teach you to knock?!"

Meanwhile Mamori slammed the bathroom door shut with such a force that it rattled the few pictures she had put up on the walls. She felt like her face was on fire with the force of her blush. "Didn't anyone teach you to close the door?!"

"I'm not used to having someone else in the house!" He shouted back through the closed door. By now he had managed to right himself, and was busying himself with washing his hands. He couldn't ever remember being this humiliated in his entire life: adult or otherwise. "You can come in now."

Slowly she pushed the door open and let out a relieved sigh at the sight of him decent again. Even, if that particular image was forever burned into her memory.

Using his foot to flush, as he was still drying his hands, he turned to face her. "What'd you need anyway?"

"Oh!" She reached over and swiped something that looked like a rubber band from off the counter. "I left my hair tie in here."

Living with another person was going to take some getting used to.


	62. The Course of True Love

Chapter Sixty Two: The Course of True Love

Disclaimer: I do not own Eyeshield 21.

Song Playing: Stephen Lynch Songs

Hiruma's Love Life Arc: 1/3

Theme 25: Cancer

The sound of someone knocking instantly had Mamori sighing. Her eyes darted to the clock on her microwave and grabbed a towel to dry her hands. She wasn't expecting one and she only had another hour before she had to leave. Whoever was at her door had better have a very good reason for showing up unannounced.

Peering in through the peephole, she was greeted with the sight of an excitable Suzuna bouncing on the balls of her feet. She had barely unlatched the locks when the shorter girl burst through and bee lined straight the small counter that separated the kitchen to the sitting room. Mamori re-latched her door then padded on over to where her friend was setting up a laptop. "What are you doing?"

"Just getting set up." Dropping to the floor, she gave a happy exclamation upon finding an outlet. "I want to be ready when the others get here."

All traces of amusement dropped away from her face at the mention of even more people appearing. "Others?"

A knock much heavier than Suzuna's caused the brunette to jump. Suzuna, on the other hand, lit up like fireworks on new years. "That's gotta be them now. Can you get that while I finish getting ready?"

"Ready for what?" Mamori was terribly confused as she made her way back to her front door. "And who else are you expecting?"

She didn't receive a response as Suzuna had started to help herself to the small stash of ice-cream located in the back of her friend's freezer. This time around all Mamori could make out through the peephole was a mass of blue. Curiously she opened the door and promptly found herself lifted off the ground.

It took her a few panicking seconds to realize that she was not being attacked but was merely being swept up in a massive bear hug. There was no mistaking that chestnut shaped head.

"Kurita!" Her arms squeezed tight around his neck. Then her eyes caught sight of a gruff face just beyond his massive shoulder. She could feel the ache in her cheeks from smiling so big but couldn't bring herself to care. "And Musashi! What are you two doing here?"

Musashi low voice answered her. "Suzuna called and we came. We would have been here earlier but we had trouble finding out which apartment building was yours. Had to circle the block three times."

At this point the friendly mass that was Kurita finally put her down and she was able to properly usher them inside. They were still shifting out of their shoes when Suzuna looked up from her very intense perusal of her computer screen.

"Hey!" She peered around them, as if she was searching for someone. "Where's everyone else?"

Musashi tucked his shoes neatly along the wall. "Train delay. They should be here any minute."

"Who should be here any minute?" Mamori put on a kettle and started pulling out mugs. Even if they were uninvited, they were guests. More importantly they were friends. Even if she did have to bolt in another, she glanced over at her clock, forty five minutes they were more than welcome to stay. Still it would be nice to know what was going on. "Did something happen that I don't know about?"

Suzuna waved her comment off. "Oh no, I called you about this like a week ago."

"A week ago." She filtered through all contact she had with her friend recently. "You mean about us getting together sometime to talk?"

"Yeah that."

"But we didn't decide on anything!"

"I know but some stuff came up and I finally figured it out. I know it's sudden but I couldn't wait any longer. We have to set this up!"

Mamori loved her friends. She really did. From the bottom of her heart and tips of her toes but she was getting ready to rip out her hair with all this run around. "But what is it? This?"

Another knock on the door. She didn't bother with the peephole. Instead she just unlocked it and let the rest of the initial Deimon Football team traipse into her home. There were lots of exchanges and greetings and hugs and by the time everyone had settled down she was down to twenty minutes of free time. Luckily it seemed she was finally going to find out what this was all about because Suzuna had started talking.

And when Suzuna talked everyone listened. She may have been small but boy did she have a voice that carried. "Okay so I got Hiruma's profile page mostly set up. I even got a decent picture of him that won't scare off potential matches."

Matches?

"Now I just need help with some stuff to put in the personal stuff, which is where you guys come in." Mamori started edging her way out of the kitchen from where she had managed to pull out some snacks and into the sitting area with the intention of catching a peek at what profile Suzuna was talking about. "Now does anyone know how tall he is?"

"With or without the hair?" Jumonji asked from his spot squished between Musashi and Togano.

The words popped out of Mamori's mouth before she had a chance to think about it. "176 without and 203 with." The simultaneous strange looks she received from everyone in the room made her acutely aware how odd it was that she knew that off the top of her head. Even weirder she wasn't entirely sure why she knew it. "What? I know stuff."

They seemed to take her explanation at face value but Mamori found herself questioning why she would even have that sort of information readily available.

"Okay then," Suzuna typed away. "Since I've never seen him with flat hair I'm going with 203. Anybody know his birthday?"

Musashi leaned forward to pick up his mug. "Summer I think."

"Really?" Monta searched around the kitchen for the trashcan. "I always thought it was in January for some reason."

"January can't be right." Suzuna furrowed her brows at the mere thought of it. "With that personality of his I always pictured him as a Scorpio. That means he was born in the November-October area."

Once again the former manager found herself talking without provocation. "Musashi's right it is in the summer, July 13th."

"A Cancer then!" More clicking, clanking of the keyboard. "Never would have guessed that one but what can you do? Now, hobbies. Hobbies. Is there a nice way to put excessive amounts of weaponry and forcing people to do his bidding?"

There was quite a bit of back and forth on that one. Here she managed to get a glance at the screen through the several bodies that had huddled around Suzuna. Mamori felt her eyes nearly pop out of her head at the realization of what exactly they were doing.

"You're making Hiruma a dating profile?!"

She glanced up from the laptop. "Yeah."

Mamori was so confused. "Why?"

Suzuna was giving her a look that clearly stated that the answer should be obvious. "So he can meet a nice girl that he can connect with."

She felt like her head was going to explode. "But _why?_"

"To be honest?" The smaller girl pinned her with a stare. "No one's seen him take an interest in anyone. It's sad and pathetic and it's more than a little worrying. I would have done this earlier but it's taken me this long to figure out his preference."

Even though she was afraid to ask, she found herself doing just that. "His preference?"

"Men or women." Well, subtly had never been a key factor in Suzuna's personality. "I was just getting ready to say screw it he's asexual. He can be like all the bacteria and fungi's' of the world. But then my resources-"

"Resources?"

"Yes. Resources. Hiruma isn't the only one with an information network." The former cheerleader was getting fed up with all the interruptions. She wanted to get this explanation over with so they could get on to more important matters. Like lifting the blond out of his sad partner less life. "Anyway they let me know that he does like women so I called this meeting into order so we could get on this and get on this fast. Now what is his favorite movie and/or book and/or band?"

She was met with silence.

Then Mamori was met with all the heads simultaneously turning to look at her. "What? I don't-" She shouldn't bring herself to actually lie to all of them. Because the truth was she knew all of those things. When this was all over she seriously needed to cut down on the amount of time she spent with Hiruma. "The original Star Wars trilogy, the Phoenix Chronicles by Osamu Tezuka, and he doesn't really like music."

Her fingers were flying over the keys as Kuroki took his feet off the coffee table and onto the floor. Bracing his elbows on his knees, he leaned forward to ask the question everyone was asking. "How do you know all of this?"

"I-I don't know." Mamori found herself fiddling with her hair. It was a nervous habit that she thought she had grown out of, "We talk. Stuff comes up."

She was saved any further embarrassment by the blaring ring of her phone alarm going off. '

"I have to go." Bolting for the door she grabbed her coat and slipped on her shoes. "Make yourselves at home. I should be back before dark but if you leave before that make sure to clean up. Sena has a key. It was nice seeing you all again!"

Mamori left them pondering how to describe Hiruma's personality that was both true and didn't make him sound like some sort of crazed sociopath.


	63. Perseverance Is The Key

Chapter Sixty Three: Perseverance Is The Key

Disclaimer: I do not own Eyeshield 21.

Song Playing: ThePianoGuys on Youtube.

Hiruma's Love Life Arc: 2/3

Theme 53: Wait

Suzuna was feeing particularly proud of herself.

It had taken nearly two weeks but she thought she had finally narrowed down the prospects enough to present them to Hiruma. Initially she had toyed with the idea of sending all (it was kind of scary exactly how many) the profiles of women who were interested straight to him but she had shut down that thought almost immediately. The chances of immediate failure were way too high. She had worked too long and too hard to have it all ruined by Hiruma being himself.

So she filtered through every single one of the responses. It boggled Suzuna's mind at the wide range of women that were attracted to him from the little page she had managed to scrounge together. Sure his picture made him look fantastic and she had taken a little bit of creative license with his personal information but the results! They had ranged from shy sweetness that she turned down for their own good to basically soliciting crazy monkey sex which she had turned down for his own good.

Suzuna wasn't sure she'd ever feel clean again.

Still she had worked diligently through nights and weekends to narrow the choices down to seventeen lucky ladies. The things she did for the sake of love, all she could say was Hiruma better damn well appreciate all her efforts.

Now came the tricky part. She had to get him not only to look through the girls but had to get him to accept some of their invitations. At the very least she had to get him to tell her what he was looking for so that her future searches were easier going.

She had just started printing their profiles when a loud rapping sound echoed through her apartment. Which was odd, since she wasn't expecting anyone. Standing on tip toes, she peered through her peephole to catch a shock of blond spiked hair attached to a very familiar face.

Talk about speaking of the devil himself.

Unlatching her bolts she flung the door open. "I was just about to call you!"

"I'm sure." Suzuna had to shuffle aside to accommodate him as he filled her small entryway and began to remove his shoes. "So how many hits did you get off that dating profile you threw together?"

Traitorous cowards. They had all sworn to secrecy not to let him in on what they were doing. "Who told?"

"You did."

Vehement protests were on the very tip of her tongue when a thought occurred to her. She furrowed her rows in frustration and disapproval. "You hacked my computer, didn't you?"

His toothy smirk told her all she needed to know.

By the time she finished securing the door he was already at her printer shredding all her hard work away.

"Hey. Hey! Stop that!" Her feet barely touched ground as she flew at him. Unfortunately he had a lot of height on her so mostly she flailed around him while he continued, completely ignoring the light blows she managed to land. "I wanted you to look at those!"

"No need." He had finished his task and was starting in on her computer. Her attempts to dislodge him from his spot were futile, the man was built like a wall. She watched pitifully as he checked the not interested box on every single one of her limited candidates. "I'm shutting it all down."

"But-but!" He was breaking her heart. He really was. "I can make it better! Just tell me what you're looking for and I can help! I know you act all scary and stuff but this is me you're talking to. I know you don't actually like being alone so let me help. As a friend."

"As a friend," He turned and she was shocked at how serious he looked. "You need to close the account, and any others you've opened up. I don't care what you have to tell the ones that have already responded but I'm not interested."

"Then give me a reason." If he was going to be all no-nonsense with her then she could return the favor. "A real honest to goodness reason why I should back off. You deserve a nice girl and there were some really nice ones that were interested. I had already rooted out all the crazies before you got here."

What followed was a very intense staring contest.

During that time Suzuna could practically hear the gears in his head. She might not have known what his birthday was or his favorite book until a few weeks ago but she could tell when he was trying to think his way out of a situation. Finally he seemed to realize that he couldn't blackmail or bullshit his way out of this one. Not with her anyway.

"Look," Gone were all trances of the conniving calculating tactics. He was sincerely leveling with her. "I've been working on getting Anezaki to come around for years. I don't want something like this setting me back who knows how long. She's easing up around me, getting comfortable, more open. I don't need her backing off because she thinks I'm looking for something else or doesn't want to be a threat to whoever you have in your little pile, okay?"

Oh.

My.

God.

He didn't want to be in the dating circuit because, as far as he was concerned, he was taken. He didn't want girls. He wanted one and he was willing to bid his time until he could have her. Even if it took him a lifetime to do it.

"All right then." She leaned over and started the extensive process of taking Hiruma off the market. "That's a good reason."

He avoided eye contact and mumbled a gruff but sincere, "Thank you."


	64. Sunshine In A Bag

Chapter Sixty Four: Sunshine In A Bag

Disclaimer: I do not own Eyeshield 21.

Song Playing: Why Not Me? by Alexander Rybak

Hiruma's Love Life Arc: 3/3

Theme 80: Ignorant

"Oh for the love of- he likes you! He's liked you for years so put the poor guy out of his misery and go out with him already!"

Immediately seven pairs of eyes shot straight for her in shock even as her own hand flew up to cover her mouth. But it was too late. From the stunned stares of her tablemates it was obvious that the cat was officially out of the bag. Now, Suzuna had been thinking those exact thoughts a lot over the last six years. Six years she had gone through that rant in her head. Today should have been no different but for whatever reason the thoughts had become words and by the time she realized that she was speaking out loud it was too late.

This was not the way their get together dinner was supposed to go and the rest of the original team were going to be both thankful and oddly disappointed that they weren't there to witness this momentous occasion . But the ones that were there, they were far from thankful. Kuirta choked on his food. Musashi's shoulders slumped as a sigh escaped his bristled jaw. Sena's jittery knee was cracking the table so hard in nerves that their drinks were dangerously close to spilling over. Kuroki looked torn between bolting for the mountains and wanting front row seats to the drama of the century. Doburoku had actually snorted his drink and the alcohol still burned the inside of his head. For once Hiruma's mind seemed to have gone completely blank. He had no words, no threats.

But no one, no one was more shocked than Mamori Anezaki.

It was different than the other six, though. Five of them were shocked that she would blurt out what they all had unanimously agreed was a secret they would take to the grave unless they wanted to suffer the slow painful wrath that would be Hiruma's punishment. But the sixth, the blond, in question was not only startled that she would blurt out his business like the Sunday news but also hurt. Terrified. He felt the blood drain from his face as it felt like somebody had punched him in the gut.

Mamori on the other hand... it was like her brain had broke at the petite woman's words.

Now she was used to people pairing up Hiruma and her. It had been that way since high school because no matter how many times she denied a relationship beyond friendship people were going to believe what they wanted to believe. This, however, was new. No one had ever said that he liked her. It was always _she _liked him. _She _was holding in her feelings. But she knew her feelings. Didn't she?

The last bite of her dessert fell off of her fork and onto the tablecloth, staining it with chocolate.

She took no notice.

What she took notice of was how pale Hiruma was looking. How he was staring at her but looked like he wanted to be staring anywhere else. She was poised for denials, ready to laugh the awkwardness off. The words were on the tip of her tongue ready to spring off into the air. Only they died as the realization that Suzuna's words were as true as they got. He wasn't a good enough actor to be looking that hopeful and that scared shitless at the same time.

She didn't know what to do.

Mamori nearly took out a busboy bolting out the door.

She kept right on going and by the time she slowed down she found herself in a neighborhood way out of the way of the restaurant district she had been in before. It looked like the stamina training that she had done with the football team all those years had paid off. The burn in her legs matched the burn in her lungs as she took in her unfamiliar surroundings. A school was just a few blocks away and it seemed a good a place as any to take a breather. She made her way onto the deserted campus and collapsed in an undignified heap on the field. Her breath was just starting to catch up with the rest of her when she heard someone approaching from behind. She didn't need to look to know who it was.

But she did.

Sure enough there was Hiruma, hands his pockets and his posture tense. He wasn't looking at her, which was a relief because she wasn't sure if she could handle the weight of his stare just yet. They existed in silence for a long moment before he took a seat right next to her.

It was as if his very being deflated. His shoulders slumped forward, he let out a sigh, and his eyes shifted from the trees to his shoes. She didn't recognize this man as the man she had spent the majority of her young adult life with. The change was so profound that she almost missed what he said next.

Almost.

He pinned her with what felt like all his hopes and expectations. "Would it really be so bad? If I liked you." She didn't know what to say and if she did her mouth wouldn't have cooperated anyway. It was like sawdust, her tongue glued in place. Her silence frustrated him and her kept on talking. "It can't be so surprising. You're smart. You're pretty. You get me and I like to think that you like me. After all we spend most of our time together, even when it's not about football. That has to mean something. So, why not me?"

"It's-" She stuggled for the word. "The whole idea is crazy! I mean I have a hard enough time wrapping my head around you being in a relationship, much less willingly and with me. It's so far fetched-"

She was interrupted by a stare full of _something_ that she couldn't place and his voice: which was pitched unusually gruff and low. "Is it really?"

"What?" Her normally sharp brain was failing her.

"Stop and think about it." He was unusually still as he spoke to her. "Really think about it, us and then tell me if you still think it seems so out there insane that I could possibly like you."

"No." She responded with a sigh just a few moments later. "I guess it's not."

Her words seemed to give him an extra confiedence boost since he scooted close enough that their knees were touching. "Would you be willing to give us a shot then?"

Well, her dignity had pretty much flung itself out of the window when she bolted earlier. There was no real point in hiding. Sooner or later he'd find her anyway. And if she got right down to it, she liked him too. Maybe not as much as he seemed to like her but that could change with time. Anyway she'd never know for sure unless she shoved past all the what if's and doubts and just went for it. In the end it her choice was obvious.

So obvious, it was bordering on stupid.

The corners of her mouth kicked up in a wobbly smile. "Yes. I would."

His smile rivaled the sun.


	65. Steep Drops With Maximum Acceleration

Chapter Sixty Five: Steep Drops With Maximum Acceleration

Disclaimer: I do not own Eyeshield 21.

Song Playing: Go Speed Racer Go

Theme 71: Fast

When Mamori had initially won the two free passes from a radio contest, she had been beyond ecstatic. Contrary to popular belief, she was aware of how much a stick in the mud she could be: what with being such a stickler for the rules and all. The brunette was not one who was unaware of her own shortcomings. But even the friends who had know her the longest might not have recognized her the moment she learned that she was getting not one but two free passes to one of her favorite amusement parks.

With all the jumping and happy screaming she did, she might as well have been a middle schooler who was asked out by her crush.

Though the high didn't last too long as she was left in the predicament of who could use her spare ticket.

With Suzuna out of town, her options in who she could invite narrowed down to almost nobody. Her closest friends could hardly stand the sight of a rollercoaster. Sena, bless his soul, had a scream so high in pitch that her eardrums would be bleeding before they finished the first loop. Sure she had a lot of male friends but she didn't think she could go with any of them without giving them the wrong impression. She really didn't want an awkward misunderstanding that would set the rumor mill on fire with this kind of gossip.

She supposed that she could go alone but there was something so very pathetic in going to an amusement park alone.

Especially an amusement park with rides as awesome as Fuji-Q Highland.

In the end she only had one real option left. It might have not been ideal but going on rides was always a lot more fun when done with another person. Even if that one person was Youichi Hiruma.

But if he kept staring at her like she grew an extra head she was going to toss that spare and fly solo.

"Look," Mamori gave one of her infamous long suffering sighs. "It's not that weird of a request. All I want to know is if you're free on Sunday and if you are if you would come with me to the Fuji-Q Highland amusement park. "

He managed to stop looking at her like she had two heads but it was replaced but his normal calculating smugness. Mamori felt her hackles rising before he even opened his mouth, "And what's in it for me?"

She had a snappy retort on the tip of her tongue. She really did. But then she thought about it and it just wasn't worth it. She would rather go alone than have to go knowing he had only gone to get something out of it. They may not have been joined at the hip best friends but she thought that they were at least passed this crap. "You know what? Forget I asked. It was stupid and I don't know what I was thinking."

Her storm away was ruined when Hiruma grabbed her arm and pulled her back so that she facing him. "Wait a second."

"What." She growled back.

To her surprise he seemed... uncomfortable. Nothing too noticeable but his ears were definitely heating up and she could see the tell tale twitch in his trigger finger. "What time were you thinking?"

She pinned him with her most scrutinizing look. "Are you being serious?"

"Yes."

He seemed honest enough but one couldn't be too careful around Hiruma. He was the master of subterfuge and crocodile tears. She wasn't going to be taken in so easily. "No tricks?"

"No tricks."

There was only one way to tell if he was really and truly being serious about this. She stuck her fist in his face, little finger out. "Pinky promise."

"Like fucking hell-" He seemed to have finally lost his patience.

He could curse all he wanted. She wasn't going to let up on this. It was his own fault for being so untrustworthy. He could either suck it up or leave her to her business. "Either you do it or I won't believe you."

That's how Mamori found herself standing in line for the first roller coaster she'd been on in years with a very amused Hiruma that Sunday afternoon. At least, she was pretty sure he was amused. At any rate his toothy grin was less menacing than normal. She wasn't paying too much attention as she willed the line to move faster. She was also becoming increasingly aware that she was babbling.

Still Hiruma wasn't trying to stop her, which was very accommodating of him. Her girlfriends had informed her multiple times that she got very animated and kind of intense when she was on a roll. Before long the two of them were climbing into the front car.

Then they were off.

It was exhilarating. She gave little side glances at her car partner. He wasn't nervous looking but he sure didn't look like as stoked as she did. Mamori didn't have time to ponder too heavily on that as they reached the peak. Her arms were raised in the air and she only just caught the widening of Hiruma's eyes as he realized what he got himself into before they were dropping.

As far as Mamori was concerned it was over all too soon. When she turned to face Hiruma he looked like it wasn't over quickly enough.

She was actually a little concerned about how pale he had gone. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah." His voice came out thin and strained. Then he cleared his throat and this time he sounded much sturdier. "Yeah. Why wouldn't I be?"

If she didn't know any better she would have said that he'd never been on a roller coaster before. But that was just silly, right? Right. Still, just to be on the safe side they broke up the roller coasters with other rides. Go karts, the Shining Flower Ferris Wheel, and the like. As the day went on Mamori slowly increased the intensity of the roller coasters they went on until they had conquered them all: Fujiyama, Eejanaika, Panic Rock, you name it they did it.

Except for one.

By now Hiruma had lost the slightly green tinge he had gained every time they got in line for a roller coaster. In fact, he seemed to have finally accepted them and had even dared to take his hands off the safety bars on the last few. "What's this one called?"

"Dodonpa." This was said in a dreamy sort of breathless sigh that had the blond giving her a very strange look. But she didn't care. They were less than twenty feet away from what was rumored to be one of the most intense roller costars in function. The blood rushing to her ears in excitement were only rivaled by the heavy drum beat radiating from the overhead speakers. "I've been wanting to ride it for a long time but haven't been able to find anyone willing to go with me. Then Suzuna agreed but when we came it was closed down for repairs."

"Really?" He climbed into his seat. "Why? What makes this one any worse than Eejanaika?"

Eejanaika, she had quickly learned, had been his least favorite ride of all time. He disliked it even more than the hated teacups.

Her fingers drummed excitedly against the safety padding. "This one goes from zero to one oh six in less than two seconds."

"It goes what?"

But they were already in the countdown and Mamori didn't have time to answer before they were launched.

This time around Mamori had to help a park employee pry Hiruma's fingers from his safety bar. She thanked the young man as she helped the unsteady blond to his feet, making sure to give a happy wave goodbye as she led the two of them to a nearby bench. They had barely sat down before Hiruma launched himself on shaky legs to the trashcan and proceeded to make the most awful wrenching noises that Mamori had ever heard.

Since it looked like he was going to need a moment to recover, Mamori took it upon herself to visit the photo booth where she picked up a couple of copies of them at mid-ride. She hadn't known that the blonde could make that kind of face. Then she made a quick stop at one of the local vendors. When she returned to the bench with water for him, something called a corndog for her, and the pictures safely tucked away in her back pocket Hiruma was no longer losing his stomach contents into a trashcan.

Which was a sign of improvement, right?

"You-" He pointed with a shaky finger as he grabbed the offered water bottle. "-are fucking batshit."

She sat next to him and took a tentative bite out of her food on a stick. "I take it you wouldn't want to go on it again?"

His response was to spit into the trash reciprocal. "You want to be all suicidal then be my guest. I'll be waiting here, safe on the ground at the speeds that humans were meant to move at."

"Spoken like a true gentleman." She took a much larger bite of her corndog and studied the layout of the park on the little paper map they had received on entrance. "Well, we haven't gone of the Merry-Go-Round yet and that's not too far from here. Why don't we do that?"

Much to her surprise he didn't reject the idea as being wimpy. Instead he got up, on much sturdier legs than he had had before. "Whatever. Which way do we go?"

Less than ten minutes later found Hiruma and Mamori each sitting on a carousel horse making slow rotations. Hiruma had himself placed on the manliest horse he could find while Mamori grabbed the first one she saw that was close to the blond. Next to the Spinning Flower, it was the least intense ride they had been on all day. It was even playing the classic Calliope music as they bobbed up and down at a gentle pace.

This, is seemed, was much more Hiruma's speed.

And an hour later when Mamori went on the Dodonpa as her final ride Hiruma stayed true to his word, preferring to stay firmly on the ground and stalk the exit until she appeared. As they made the way to the train station Mamori came to a realization that both shocked and pleased her.

It was the best day that she'd had in a long time.


	66. A Little Idle Talk

Chapter Sixty Six: A Little Idle Talk

Disclaimer: I do not own Eyeshield 21.

Song Playing: The Beast by Nico Vega

Theme 45: Animal

Blue eyes blinked in honest confusion as Mamori ignored the stack of paperwork in front of her in favor of Hiruma's profile. The man had the gall to continue working as if he hadn't just suggested that she go home. As if being asked to leave wasn't mind blowing enough it was the fact that she was being told to leave early. Practice had only been over for an hour: there were tapes to watch, forms to sign, and schedules to make.

That was just the day to day stuff too.

She was just getting ready to open her mouth, in either protest or interrogation, when her brain brought several things to her attention. Mainly the crick in her neck, the chance at a hot shower and a nap before dinner. As much as her instincts were to fight him on this material possessions won her over.

It was without shame that she called out a hasty farewell as she all but flew out the door.

To his credit Hiruma kept right on working as if nothing had happened. He continued on his computer for another half hour after the Saikyoudai manager left before powering down and tidying up the clubroom. If Mamori had still been around she would have been the first to say that the only thing stranger that the blonde closing down hours before his typical check out time was the fact that he was cleaning. Not only after himself but after others. It was something he never did. Ever. To do so would be to show consideration for others and would defy the very core of his being.

Only today seemed to be full of these freak contradictions.

After he was done the room was cleaner than it had been in a while. Except it wasn't the homey sort of clean like when the manager straightened up but the sterilized sort of clean that occurs just before a particularly violent interrogation takes place.

It didn't help that he took the power seat at the end of the conference table. No guns, no gum, just one very intense young man with his hands neatly folded coming very close to eviscerating the front door with the weight of his stare alone. Any normal human being would have been quaking in their underpants upon walking into such a scene.

Only Kongo Agon had never been accused of being normal and his humanity was most certainly in question.

Instead of announcing his presence with a firm knock, he flung the door open with enough voice to ricochet off the wall and slam shut behind him. Not bothering to wipe his feet he strode in and took the first available chair. The field must have just been watered because the mud that coated his shoes was making a mess of the previously spotless table top. With his hands in his pockets and sunglasses perched at the edge of his nose, Agon couldn't have looked more condescending if he tried.

"Trash."

"Fucking dreads."

They stared at each other, unblinking, for an unnerving length of time.

They still hadn't eye broken contact or so much as twitched a lid when Argon tore through the silence. What he said wasn't really a question or a statement, but a snarl. An ugly sound accompanied by an equally ugly face, "What?"

"Stay away from Anezaki."

Oh. _Oh. _The sneer melted away into something worse. A smile of teeth and malice and challenge. It seemed the bottle blonde hack had gone soft, gotten himself a little girlfriend. No- that wasn't right. If their curvaceous manager was indeed dating this weak willed piece of garbage she wouldn't be able to hide it. He felt his grin curve wider, crinkling his eyes. A crush then. The so called Devil had a crush on the only female to show him a scrap of affection. Now wasn't that just _adorable._ He planted his feet on the floor, arms draped over his knees as his insides boiled with anticipation. Finally, some fun. "Or what?

Hiruma's unwavering glare seemed to reach down into the very core of his teammate and ruthlessly remove several of his major organs.

Agon felt a familiar thrill race through himself, setting every nerve aflame at such a fantastic response. He took back his initial conclusion. This wasn't going to be fun. This was going to be a burn the world down blood bath.

In a single fluid movement he was out of his seat and out the door. He didn't need to look back to know that the former Demon of Deimon was still watching him. He could practically hear the gears whirring at full speed planning, plotting, constructing the most thorough painful way to eviscerate him. He didn't need to look because he was doing the same thing. The only difference being he was going to win.

Time to set the world on fire.


End file.
